It's been five days since Chicagoans have been treated to a temperature above 32
degrees. A subfreezing spell spanning five days occurs this late in the season an average of
once every five years. Coming as it has in the midst of an especially harsh winter, it's
little wonder predictions of 40- and 48-degree highs Tuesday and Wednesday are raising
Chicagoan's spirits. Despite a February weather pattern less extreme than December or January,
the latest stats on the 2008-09 meteorological winter season, which began Dec. 1, rank
it among the city's harshest 12 percent over 139 years of official weather observations.
Temperatures have averaged 21.4 degrees -- the coldest in 23 years -- and Chicago's
current tally of 48.5 inches of snow is the most in the three decades since the infamous Jane
Byrne/Michael Bilandic 1978-79 snow season that ended up producing 89.7 inches.
SOUTHWEST SIZZLES, TUCSON TOPS LIST
While Chicago was locked in a late-winter chill Monday, record warmth covered portions
of the West. Tucson's 91 degrees fell just one degree short of the all-time February high
there. Records also fell at Winslow, Ariz. (76), and Bozeman (61) and Helena (60), both
in Montana.
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
