Dear Tom,
With all the cold weather lately I know that it can get warm in January. What is the
nation's highest January reading?
Spencer G.
Dear Spencer,
It has never reached the 100 mark in the U.S. in January, but it has come close. The
nation's two highest January readings were both logged in 1997. The hottest was a
98-degree high at Indio, Calif., in the southern California desert near Palm Springs, and
the runner-up was a 97-degree maximum at Zapata, Texas near the Mexican border
between Brownsville and Laredo.
Closer to home, Illinois' peak January reading was a balmy 78-degree high recorded at
downstate Cahokia in 1986. Chicago has never reached the 70 degree mark in January
but the mercury did climb to 67 degrees on Jan. 25, 1950 and the "infamous" 65 degree
high on Jan. 24, 1967 two days before the 23 inch "Big Snow" on Jan. 26-27.
