Dear Tom,
My mother always tells me how much it was snowing just before I was born on Jan. 25, 1985, but she never wrote down any details. Just how bad was it?
Kathleen McCoy, Naperville
Dear Kathleen,
Though there was snow on the days leading up to your birthday, the real story in Chicago that month was the record cold. Over the three-day period from Jan. 16 to Jan. 18 the city received about 5 inches of snow. Another 1.2 inches fell Jan. 24 and an additional inch on your birthday, bringing the city's snowpack to 8 inches. But, five days before you were born, on the morning of Jan. 20, the official thermometer plunged to minus 27 degrees, the city's lowest reading ever, and coupled with strong winds, wind chills hovered near 80 below zero. Readings did not break freezing the rest of the month, which closed with a low of minus 12 on Jan. 31.
My mother always tells me how much it was snowing just before I was born on Jan. 25, 1985, but she never wrote down any details. Just how bad was it?
Kathleen McCoy, Naperville
Dear Kathleen,
Though there was snow on the days leading up to your birthday, the real story in Chicago that month was the record cold. Over the three-day period from Jan. 16 to Jan. 18 the city received about 5 inches of snow. Another 1.2 inches fell Jan. 24 and an additional inch on your birthday, bringing the city's snowpack to 8 inches. But, five days before you were born, on the morning of Jan. 20, the official thermometer plunged to minus 27 degrees, the city's lowest reading ever, and coupled with strong winds, wind chills hovered near 80 below zero. Readings did not break freezing the rest of the month, which closed with a low of minus 12 on Jan. 31.
