The arctic spigot is wide open Thursday. Chicago-area residents are in for a rendezvous with the area's coldest air since a 19-degree high Feb. 20 -- more than nine months ago. Thermometer readings Thursday are likely to rise no higher than the low 20s which, in combination with an 8 to 18 m.p.h. west/northwest wind, threatens to keep wind chills in single digits much of the day.
Near 40-degree temperatures were in place as the precipitation began Wednesday, bringing rain then sleet. That moisture has frozen overnight and area residents will have to be careful on untreated roads and sidewalks Thursday.
The chilly weather extends the colder-than-normal pattern which has dominated for nearly a month. Temperatures since Nov. 8 have averaged 4.5-degrees below the long-term average -- the chilliest such period in eight years (since 2000). It ranks 21st coldest of the past 139 years placing it among the chilliest 15 percent on record.
HEFTIER SNOW WEST AND NORTH INTO WISCONSIN
Snowfall decreased as it moved into Chicago on Thursday producing 1- to 2-inch tallies. Totals in the 3- to 4-inch range were common across northwest Illinois.
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune
