Dear Tom,
What is Chicago’s record for the most consecutive days with a temperature of zero or below?
Jim Otten
Dear Jim,
When cold waves hit the Chicago area they tend to last for a number of days, and the city’s climate records reveal many extended spells of zero weather.
Our climatologist Frank Wachowski checked the Chicago weather archives and found two strings of 10 consecutive days. The first one occurred more than 90 years ago in 1912 when readings dropped below to zero or below each morning from Jan. 4-13. The coldest morning was on Jan. 7, 1912 when the mercury slid to –16 (degrees). The second 10 day string occurred in 1979 from Jan. 2-11, with the coldest morning (-13 (degrees)) on Jan. 2 the very first day of the cold wave.
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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.)
