A wintry chill roared back into Chicago on icy north winds late
Thursday, offering dramatic evidence of March's perennially finicky
weather. In stark contrast to record warmth just two days ago,
homeward-bound commuters were confronted with 30-m.p.h. wind gusts which
delivered temperatures ranging the upper 20s to the mid-30s in lakeside
areas from northwest Indiana across Chicago and north into Wisconsin.
At many locations, the readings marked a 45-degree or greater 48-hour
temperature pullback. The frigid air had origins nearly 600 miles north
over the 12 to 18 inches of snowpack covering Ontario province north of
Lake Superior. Water temperatures on Lakes Superior and Michigan
preserved the chill as the air swept south.
Spring gets under way at 6:44 a.m. Friday, the moment the sun's
northward-shifting most direct rays fall on the equator. Weather records
indicate 91 percent of Chicago's snow has typically fallen by March 20.
Half of the years since weather records began here have produced at
least one additional day in which temperatures have failed to reach
freezing. Rains in 2009 are already 150 percent above normal and there
could more than 2 inches next week.
A spring storm is set to deliver gusty south winds and warmth next
week.
