Dear Tom,
Has this been the coolest year in memory, or is that just my impression?
Alex Vesselinovitch
Dear Alex,
2009 has been a cool year thus far, but memories and impressions can be deceiving.
Averaged from Jan. 1 through Oct. 17, this year's temperature stood at 51.4 degrees, as registered officially at O'Hare International Airport. A computer sweep of the city's entire 139-year official temperature data base (1871-2009) indicates that 2009 ranks 26th coolest. That places this year among Chicago's coolest 19 percent of all years, but 25 years had lower average temperatures in the period from Jan.1 through Oct.17.
The chilliest year in the data base is 1875, with an average temperature of 47.0 degrees. Even when ranked among the 51 years (1959-2009) for which temperature data are available at O'Hare, 2009 is merely the 11th coolest.
Has this been the coolest year in memory, or is that just my impression?
Alex Vesselinovitch
Dear Alex,
2009 has been a cool year thus far, but memories and impressions can be deceiving.
Averaged from Jan. 1 through Oct. 17, this year's temperature stood at 51.4 degrees, as registered officially at O'Hare International Airport. A computer sweep of the city's entire 139-year official temperature data base (1871-2009) indicates that 2009 ranks 26th coolest. That places this year among Chicago's coolest 19 percent of all years, but 25 years had lower average temperatures in the period from Jan.1 through Oct.17.
The chilliest year in the data base is 1875, with an average temperature of 47.0 degrees. Even when ranked among the 51 years (1959-2009) for which temperature data are available at O'Hare, 2009 is merely the 11th coolest.
Tom,
Are we going to get a indian summer or is this it?
Hi Tom,
With cold air in place on Saturday, do you think it is possible that we see a little bit of snow? I'm not sure if you look at this, but I like to view the Q-vector convergence fields to identify areas of lift...based on this and latest 12Z gfs 500 mb vort/height fields, I think model precip fields may be underdoing the strength of the system on Saturday..and with enough cold air in place, I'm concerned about a little snow here and even southwestward from here in Eastern Missouri..Any thoughts?
Ross