Dear Tom,
Our cold weather makes me wonder: What has been Chicago’s coldest week ever?
Devra Kehr
Dear Devra,
Chicagoans are no strangers to frigid temperatures, and we searched the city’s weather records to find the coldest of the cold. In official records dating from Nov. 1, 1870, we found that Chicago’s coldest calendar week (Sunday through Saturday) was 111 years ago: Jan. 10-16, 1893, with an average temperature of -2.4 (degrees). Here are the daily high and low temperatures on those seven bitter days: -2 (degrees)/-9 (degrees); 12 (degrees)/-7 (degrees); 9 (degrees)/4 (degrees); -2 (degrees)/-8 (degrees); 2 (degrees)/-9 (degrees); -4 (degrees)/-16 (degrees); 4 (degrees)/-8 (degrees) .
We also identified Chicago’s all-time coldest seven consecutive days, and that occurred just 10 years ago: Jan. 14-20, 1994, (Friday through Thursday) with an average temperature of -6.0 (degrees). The daily highs and lows for that period: 1 (degrees)/-10 (degrees); -4 (degrees)/-17 (degrees); 10 (degrees)/-16 (degrees); 10 (degrees)/-13 (degrees); -11 (degrees)/-21 (degrees); 3 (degrees)/-19 (degrees); 15 (degrees)/-12 (degrees).
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His weather forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN News at noon and 9 p.m.
Write to: ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Place, Chicago, IL 60618 or asktomwhy@wgntv.com (Mail volume precludes personal response.)
