Chicago enters a third consecutive day of sub-freezing temperatures Friday and may not emerge from the Deep Freeze for at least the next 7 days. The last time Chicagoans experienced an above freezing temperature was 6 a.m. Tuesday morning. If the sub-freezing chill actually manages to hang on over the coming week, it would mark only the second time in 136 years of official observations here that the first week of December has failed to produce a daytime high above 32 (degrees).
Friday’s predicted 24 (degrees) high is likely to become the coldest daytime reading of the season. It’s the third straight day of 20s–something which typically doesn’t happen for another three weeks. Snow on the ground provides arctic air an easy path into the Midwest. It will be a major factor in allowing cold spells of increasing strength to take hold in coming days.
HIGH: 24
LOW: 14
COLDEST YET THIS SEASON, STICKING LATE NIGHT SNOW
Note: Predicted high and low temperatures on the Tribune weather page are chronological–the “high” refers to the maximum reading expected during the day and the “low” is the minimum reading expected the following night.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
