So far, June's chill is one for the records

Glad you confirmed what we thought.

Spent last week in Chicago and weather was a little cold. A three layer cold for
us Floridians.

But as always had a great time.

Tom, you are the best there is! Bar none! I watch WGN as often as I can, just for your expansive weather reports. Thanks for your service and help.
Jim Ackerson
Naples, FL

I would pay a travel agent for your weather. Moved to Arizona 20 years ago and miss cool temps, but most of all rain. Yes, this is a desert, but geeeeez! I want some rain.
Tim

Much cooler here in Denver also. Of course the climate changes. But I believe we are overall in a cooling cycle, as proven by the low sunspot activity.
Doug Sharp
Rocky Mountains

I'm a born and raised Chicagoan - north-sider. But I now live in Ocala, Florida. I tell ya, I'll swap some of this 95 deg. Florida heat for some 50-60 deg. Chicago cool. After 10 years here I'm still struggling with the heat. Go Cubbies!

I'm not sure I understand this. CO2 levels have greatly increased in the past 50 years but we're seeing a record run of cool temps? How could that be?

I live in Pt. Ludow ,WA and it has been so colod I have not been able to get Tomato seeds to germinate for 3 years. The number of growing days for grain crops in the northern hemesphere are down due to cold which may cause a grain shortage. From what I can find on the Internet the World average temprature has fallen about 7/10s of a degree in the last 10yrs. Over the past 10,0000 yrs or since the last Ice Age the world has been warming. Our climate seems be dependant on the Sun's output of energy. All criditable research points to the Sun,Volcanic Activity,or meteor activity as influensing our clemate. Gore may be wrong.

My daughter moved to Chicago last July. She survived the winter, but is still waitng for spring!

What happened to all the reader comments that were posted here just a couple hours ago? Pretty much every one lambasted the lunacy of Al Gore's global warming movement. All of those are deleted and two gushingly complimentary ones are left. Talk about fascism! Guess if it doesn't line-up with your agenda here, it's not freedom of speech. Ha. What a joke.

Thought this might be the case! It's definitely been chilly. I saw that Green Bay had experienced the record lowest high temperature for June a week or so back.

Curious if this has to do with the solar minimum? I read we hadn't experienced a solar minimum of this extent since the 1920's. While they're usually 7 year cycles, we've been awaiting solar activity for a good while longer. i don't remember all the facts from the articles, but would love to hear a report on it.

Will also be interesting to see what this does to crops. Wonder how the guys on the CBOT are handling this?

Thanks for the validation on what we're experiencing!

As someone who grew up in the DC area I am sick of our swamp/jungle weather. Chicago weather of late sounds wonderful. For me 50-60 something temps are t-shirt weather.

But then again, even though I grew up in DC I was born in Chicago and lived in Michigan until age 9. So maybe it is in my genes :)

I echo the others; Tom is simply the best and I watch him every day. I don't believe in global warming, as man is far too puny to destroy the amazing earth. Weather is cyclical and unpredictable, which makes it fun to watch unfold.

Thanks Len for your comment as well as everyone who's taken the time to comment about this story.

We love to discuss weather events and meteorology with our readers. However, we have no political agenda nor do we have any interest in politicizing our weather news reports. It is not our core mission: We are meteorologists and weather enthusiasts, not politicians.

While the political implications of global warming and climate change are certainly worthy of debate and discussion, it became clear to us that our weather blog is not the ideal forum for a political discussion on the topic. For such discussion, we encourage you to visit the Chicago Tribune's web site, where the original story was published. To all our commenters, feel free to make your voice heard there. Here's the link to that story:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/weather/chi-wx-weathersummary0613jun13,0,6492963.story

We hope you understand our point of view. If censorship were our true intent, we wouldn't have posted your comment.

Was in Chicago last week and it was so cold and rainy! Had a good time despite that. On a side note. a headline currently featured on the comcast homepage is, "Glaciers advance despite Global Warming". I suppose it's a step forward that they don't blame the advancing glacier on global warming. Sometimes you just have to laugh.

So a weather blog isn't the proper venue for a little honest & spirited debate & discussion regarding global warming? Seems like the perfect venue for it...and a little heated debate is fun & could actually increase your readership...live a little & take a chance once in a while.

Instead of spirited debate & discussion, you deem it "entertaining" to post comments regarding peoples' children visiting Chicago & feeling it "a bit cool"? That's the literary equivalent to valium.

Shawn, our focus is on meteorology, not on debate. A better place for spirited debate and discussion would be the Chicago Tribune's web site, where the original story was published. To all our commenters, feel free to make your voice heard there. Here's the link to that story:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/weather/chi-wx-weathersummary0613jun13,0,6492963.story

We have been have very strange weather for Seattle in May and June. We have had no rain for 25 days and are approaching the record of 29 straight days. We also broke a few High temperature records over the past few weeks. We don't get too many 90 degree days in late may or early June but we did this year. I am afraid we are heading into a drought cycle.I grew up in Illinois and it seems you are having Seattle weather and Chicago is having Seattle weather. As far as global warming goes, the glaciers around Seattle have been receding for years.

All of this hype on global warming yet temps have been proven to be dropping. I am in New England and it has been colder than normal here also. The word "Global Warming" is not to be said anymore the new phrase is "Climate Crisis". People need to understand that Earth goes through warming and cooling cycles all the time. We do need to be environmentally sound no doubt, but the fear mongering needs to stop.

No one who believes in global warming will debate the issue because it only a theory that is looking less and less likely every year. Science is never settled and neither iis climate. Al thinks are in flux. That is natures way. That is what makes life interesting. Not knowing things for certain.

Most people use weather as a barometer (no pun intended) of climate ... whether it is very relevant on a day to day basis or not. So yes, do allow some debate here on this weather page.

I trust your superiors haven't ordered up a politically correct site here so as not to incur the wrath of those big guv people's plans to assault us with huge cap and trade taxes for starters and on to other fees, fines and levies, for behavior that Gaia may not approve of?

Up to and slightly after WWII Chicago temperatures were measured at the old Post Office in the loop. After that, readings were taken at Midway airport. Then, about 50 years ago, they started taking readings at O'Hare Field.

In June, Lake Michigan is still quite cool so temperatures downtown are often much cooler than those at O'Hare. If our readings now are cooler than those taken in the years when readings were taken downtown, we are really in a cold snap.

Ben

It's been cold here in Central Valley (former desert) of California also. I haven't seen it this cold ever--in June. We've been having snow!

John, thanks for your comment. Your point about some people using weather as a barometer of climate is salient: No single weather event proves or disproves global warming, whether it's a hurricane in the Gulf or a cool start to June in Chicago. And to address your concern directly: Our blog content is dictated by our forecasts, our weather research, and wonderful weather photos and stories our readers share with us. Nothing else.

Yup, cool weather. Fourteen months ago there were articles about the very atypical absence of sunspots, and -- guess what -- we're still waiting. See spaceweather.com for day-to-day reports. That giant fusion reactor may have something more to do with weather here than a few parts per million of CO2.

we are enjoying this beautiful weather here in the central valley of California! in the high 70's and low 80's whereas normally this time of year we would be in the high 90's. Go global warming!!!

It's amazing how little is mentioned about the history of the last glacial period ( ice age ) in New England approx. 15,000 years ago. The local meteorologist's who are highly trained
should at least mention that this area around Boston had a glacier ( continental glacier ) at least 5,000 ft tall ending and creating Cape Cod , Martha's Vineyard , Nantucket , Block Island and Long Island. This cycle has been recorded back a few million years and it will repeat itself again in the future. A little geological history with meteorolgical history will help the general public understand this.

The weather forecast in San Diego reads the same day after day for past 2 weeks, i.e. patchy morning drizzle with fog clearing by noon, afternoon partly cloudy with high near 70 and low tonight of 62 -- (short thermometer every day). Have never
seen such a cool spring -- summer weather will be welcome (if it ever comes!).

Don't know about Chicago, but California has been having a cold June as well. Even in our normally hot Central Valley, temps have struggled to get over 80, where 95 is more typical this time of year. Near the coast, temps are more like mid April.

Annoyingly, several of my favorite high country backpacking locations won't open until August due to snow, some of which fell heavily last week.

Nelson, I've never seen a major news outlet cull comments on any story based on the fact they're political in nature. It's irrelevant whether censorship was your "true intent" - that's what you achieved regardless of your goal. Furthermore, I don't understand how "debate" and "meteorology" are mutually exclusive -- one is a process for discussing and the other a discussion topic.

I agree that it can be detrimental to have the comments section overrun by partisan ad hominem attacks, but a discussion as to the validity of global warming theories is exactly what I think should be discussed in a meteorology forum. Does this data mean global warming is not occurring? Does it mean global warming has slowed? Does it mean we're in a temporary lull that will reverse? What does this data really indicate? That is exactly what meteorologists should be weighing in on instead of letting politicians and unqualified journalists fill the void. This shouldn't be a political debate and only is because the scientific world remains silent or argues from the smug viewpoint that no evidence needs to be provided to the masses. I would love a scientifically-supported view point of what this information means.

TC, thanks for your comment. Our data shows that we've had the coolest start to June at O'Hare Airport since records began there in 1959. That's what the data means, nothing more. That data is wholly insufficient to answer your questions about global warming. It's bad science to take a data set of 50 years from one location, then extrapolate it as evidence to describe climate at the global level.

For people who wish to engage in a serious discussion on global climate, we would ask them to remember that no single weather event (such as Chicago's cool start to June) can help prove or disprove any global climate theory. Weather and climate are two very different things.

And to address your concern about the comments: We are a weather blog, not a political blog. Cold and warm fronts may be blue and red, but neither belongs to a political party. We have no interest in politicizing our news story, and we will moderate our comments to ensure that our blog's focus rests squarely on meteorology.

For anyone who wishes to discuss the non-meteorological aspects of our news story, we continue to encourage you to post your thoughts at the Chicago Tribune's web site, where the original story was published. There's a vigorous discussion going on right now. Here's the link to that story: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/weather/chi-wx-weathersummary0613jun13,0,6492963.story

As far as some posts being deleted and charges of censorship, let me see if this post can get past the "non sensors". The earth has been in a cooling trend since 1998, and this is at least partially responsible for the extreme cooling trend described in the article. It's been comparatively cold and rainy in Philadelphia as well. The severe decrease in sunspot activity, some of the lowest recorded seems to correlate. As for CO2, it is, has been, and will continue to be a TRACE GAS in the earth's atmosphere, comprising a mere .038% (thirty-eight thousands or a percent). Anthropogenic additions to the total will constitute only a few thousands of a percent more. It would be just as easy to produce a "climate model" that shows CO2 increases as a RESULT of global warming, rather than causing it. At the extreme, the Russians have postulated were are entering another ice age: http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080103/94768732.html

I'm in Bismarck, North Dakota, and we had more snow last year than I remember in the 33 years I've been here, and one day it got to 42 degrees below zero, the coldest yet. The spring has been chilly and very rainy. It's good for grass and trees and the elm trees are spreading seeds like you wouldn't believe. The prairie is green as can be. It certainly doesn't look like the weather is getting warmer here!

I think this Global Warming stuff is a bunch of bull. I live in PA outside of Philadelphia, and just like another commentator has mentioned its more like Seattle around here.

It has rained almost every day for the the past two months and the temps rarely goes above 80. I never in my life seen it this cool and wet this late into summer. My garden and lawn is loving it. I did not need to water anything, nature takes care of it. Last year was somewhat similar just not as cool, its seemed like we had a long spring then a short hot summer, then a long fall. I wonder if its even going to get "hot" at all this summer.

Like others I think it has to do with the cycle of the Sun.

Nelson, your comment, "It's bad science to take a data set of 50 years from one location, then extrapolate it as evidence to describe climate at the global level," is perfectly valid. However, the arguments of the whole global climate change movement are also based on a limited data set and rely to a major extent on anecdotal "data." Talk about bad science. I think its very healthy to debate global warming as well as weather on your blog because the two are inextricably linked.
As an aside, last year at my father's home in Montana, toward the end of April, it got down to 8 degrees below zero, beating the old record for that date by 19 degrees. This year, on April 27th, they had a snow storm which dumped 4 feet of snow, with accumulations of up to 6 feet further north. On June 8, they had another snow storm. This one only amounted to a couple of inches, but they have not had snow that late in the spring for many years.

Its always difficult for us lay people to understand that when Alaska has a warm winter its "Global Warming" and more sure evidence of catastrophic "Climate Change" while on the other hand as Europe, Russia or the US experiences severe winters and cold summers it just "the weather."

How does one deteremine which events: a drowned polar bear, or an calving iceberg etc, the news media feels we must be informed about should be interpreted as "just weather" and which are harbingers of "catastrophic global warming." Should we just park our incredulity and rely on the experts; the ones making all the dough protecting us from the raging climate and elephant stampedes on main street America.

I live in Albuquerque NM where the weather is warm and there is plenty of space down here for all the northerners when the ice sheet crosses the Canadian border.

One of my favorites regarding the upcoming universal brew-hah-hah about man made climate change regards rising ocean levels. I've been going to the same beach in South Carolina for fifty years. The island where I go has been a resort for approaching 200 years and has houses almost that old that remain. The ocean level hasn't risen for the fifty years I've been going there, nor has it risen perceptively in the 200 years people have been enjoying themselves there. Mind you, the ocean erodes here and deposits there, but man doesn't cause that either.

I was born and raised in Chicago. I grew up South of Midway Airport so we were not as influenced by gentle lake brezzes as the neighborhoods closer to the water. This is the coldest June I can ever remember. Shoreline water temps are only 60 when they should be about 70 by now.(42 years old) With the exception of 2005, it seems our summers since 2000 are growing colder, wetter and cloudier. We are struggling to reach 70 in June. It seems more like San Francisco, or Seattle. I realize weather changes and climate is the long term average, but these cooler summers are really depressing.

Records have only be tallied for 50 years? How many years is global warming based upon?

This weather pattern was predicted based upon solar activity or the lack thereof (very few sunspots). The general trend is toward cooler temps in the northern regions and sustained weather patterns. There is a possiblity of no summer or a shorter summer in the northern regions if solar activity remains this quiet.
Nice and dry in the Seattle area this June but it was a long cold snowy and wet winter. Expect more of the same. View the Suns activity at SOHO website.

Here in Arizona, it has been the coolest than the last 15 years. But I just have to ask, Over the past several years all I have heard is global warming is coming. Does this mean I stall have to wait?

Shortened growing seasons and seeds that won't germinate only reienforce the obvious, "you can't grow crops on frozen ground"
The climate will always be changing so we had better hope it gets warmer. A cooler climate will only mean less food production and all that comes with that. I don't think we can change it either way so lets quit wasting money trying and concentrate on addressing the effects of a changing climate.

All it will take is one warmer than average day and the man made global warming fanatics will claim that is proof the Earth is warming because of man. They will ignore all the much cooler than normal weather we have been having for some time now.

I'm originally from downtown Chicago, but I have lived in Seattle the last 8-years. This May and June have been very dry and a few weeks of really HOT and humid weather. I laughed and thought, "Am I in Seattle or in
Chicago these days?" Yikes. Finally this week is cooling off--just a nice and balmy low 70's. Strange enough, when it's sunny and 75+ degrees in Seattle, it feels like Chicago's 85+ degrees for some reason. Anyway, the heat has subsided, but I won't count on it for too long. Looks like we're having a freakish spring.

It maybe cold there but we are having almost record heat down here in Texas. Some of you all might want to examine the idea that warming will cause the gulf stream to shut down by dumping too much fresh water from the melting icecaps into the North Atlantic. This tends to make the cold stay north and the heat stay south. From fossil and geological evidence this can happen very quickly. If you all like glaciers, you might get to see them very soon.

It's moronic to think that a cold June proves global warming is bunk. Global warming predicts climatic change, that is, average temperatures rising over a long period of time (years and decades). Having one cold month says nothing one way or the other about it. In fact, it supports some theories about global warming, which is that we'll see greater variation in temperature (cold and hot) and rainfall than we have experienced.

Changes in the sun may cool things off a bit temporarily, but increasing CO2 is still a warming stimulus and will "get on us" later if we don't start controlling it. Also, CO2 does increase from heat but it increases heat further, that's "positive feedback." Note, anything with a statistical character is a "risk" not a certainty, but risk is bad enough and worth protecting from!

Finally, temperature variations depend on location anyway. The long-term, world average matters most to future climate trends. Here is SE Virginia, it snows less and is hotter earlier than in the 60s and 70s. Some places get cooler, but more are getting warmer not counting perhaps the latest possible sun-caused cooling - and that won't last! The CO2 will still be around, and increasing, when the sunspots come back to make it even warmer than before.

Nelson,

You may indeed opine that, "weather and climate are two different things." However, one certainly affects the other and/or causes the variations in the other. Indeed, weather, climate and atmosphere are also three different things; they also have relationships and interactions and reactions to each other. In fact, weather, climate and atmosphere, as well as celestial and various and numerous exo-atmospheric and geologic phenomena all contribute to our earth's very complex ENVIRONMENT. This evironment has yet to be concretely and precisely modeled for extreme long-term scientific predictions or prognostications. However (comma) scientific studies in earth's environmental cycles (which requires more apolitical support) have proven quite accurately many of our past and future trends in weather and climate, barring the inpredictable volcanic or solar events.

Nelson,

In fact, speaking of scientific unpredictability; who in the meteorology community would have ever even been able to predict old Tom would have survived his ordeal in Television Weather in Madison and end up a success in Chicago!!! Who needs an educated weatherman anyway!!!

There is one last thing I want to point out about human impact on the environment.

I just read an article by a Russian scientist who does not believe in human caused climate change, in fact, he says that humanities role in climate change is just a drop in the ocean. That seems logical, but it seems to be avoiding the math involved with closed systems.

Our environment, our Universe even, is a closed system. Chaos theory is about closed systems and it's been used to demonstrate how very small events can transgress into huge events. The idea that a butterfly flapping it's wings in Kansas can cause a typhoon in Japan, not only makes intuitive sense, but is also a basic principle in physics.

It's interesting how some one so astute in his field could so casually overlook knowledge from other disciplines.

According to climate expert Ken Caldeira, when CO2 emissions fall into the ocean they turn into carbonic acid. The last time the ocean was as acidic as it has the potential to become in the coming decades, we saw a massive extinction.

How's that for a drop in the ocean?

It's so easy to let tunnel vision allow you to think everything will be just fine.

Nelson...you have all my empathy while you try to convince all those who wish to turn this thread into a political discusion. This is a "weather" page..not a "climate" page. The two subjects are rather different in focus. I'm not sure why people don't understand that.

I heard the weather man say the other day we are going into an El Nino. Guess we gave been in an El Nina. That would explain our weather. 50 and 60 sounds real good to me too. Sleeves weather. No coat. Nice

1. Tom Skilling (and his organization) are the best meteorologists in this town. Your reports are always fact-filled, always interesting.

2. It's OK that you choose to be professional and not take sides in the Global Warming thing, as day-to-day and even year-to-year weather don't prove anything. When I see palm trees in Chicago, or the glaciers advance over Madison, I'll have enough evidence of what is going on. It's just that so many other "scientists" have drunk this kool-aid, and feel free to piously bloviate about it, that it is refreshing to read someone who hasn't and doesn't.

I appreciate your purity and all, Nelson Taruc, but if someone--maybe everyone--doesn't start speaking up about the lunacy of "global warming," we're going to be stuck with so many cures, from cap and trade to windmills, that we'll be a poor, poor country. Except for the politicians, natch.

Okay, so imagine the ocean is a glass of water and huge chunks of the polar ice caps are breaking off (ice cubes). The resulting effect is the cooling down of the ocean while the heat over the plain states and flat plain based areas aroiund the world is increasing in temperature. It's confusing at first but if you ever iced down beer or cola you'd get it. It's going to get cooler in the winter and hotter in the summers because there is more ice making its way into the ocean and less to keep the Earth at a constant lower temperature during the summers. Both are happening at once until the ice caps dissipate and then it will just keep getting hotter. You don't know the ice in your glass is melting because the water is cold but see how quickly it warms up when the ice is gone.

Allow a Texan to say a few words. I wish you would send some of your rain and cool weather down here! We have been in the mid to upper ninetys all of June. The only difference I have noted is that humidity levels were slighthly lower on some days so the heat was a little more bearable. I don't believe in anthropomorphic global warming either, but I kind of wish some of that so called gloabal cooling would make it down here to Houston!!! My house foundation and yards are in dire need of some moisture

Here in Shenyang, China, we are enjoying a beautifully cool spring. Usually it is very hot this time of year. Our winter was also very cold. There seems to be a trend here toward colder temperatures.

This has been a cool wet spring,preceded by a very cold winter,i love Toms forcasts
but if we can't predict a week in advance how can we predict global climate change.

I completely empathize with those of you who are currently experiencing unbearably very hot weather (while we are still freezing here in Chicago). I also understand your wishing that we could send our cool weather in your direction. Nevertheless, one important factor some of you fail to realize is that despite your current hot weather, you always have mild winters and pleasant springs. Your having only one uncomfortable season (summer), is infinitely better than our having no comfortable seasons at all. Here, it's either barbarically cold, annoyingly cold, depressingly cold, or, suddenly, unbearably hot. We have zero nice, comfortable days at all. Those of you currently crying uncle because of the heat need to appreciate your overall pleasant climates. You have plenty of nice comfortable days to look forward to (compared to our "zero"), and you should therefore be mindful of those of us who, year in and year out, never have any sustained nice weather.

I agree with Michael 100%. I moved from Dallas to Chicago five years ago, and I regret trading Dallas' 9-10 months of mostly to very pleasant weather per year for Chicago's none. At least in Dallas, any space with a roof is blasting A/C on those 100 degree August days, and it never gets too humid. August in Chicago gets humid, and the aging city infrastructure means you can't always count on A/C when you're out and about.

I recall a beautiful Chicago summer in 2004. But since then, I have yet to see this city manage two truly nice days back-to-back. It is never very nice here, and I am never comfortable. Today it's cold and rainy --the usual weekend forecast. Toss in the nation's worst traffic and highest sales taxes, and you have one miserable city, but of course that's for another blog...