Dear Tom,
What is the likelihood of 80(degrees) occurring here after the first snowflakes have fallen?
Nick Recchia, River Grove, Ill.
Dear Nick,
It is reasonable to associate 80(degrees)-plus temperatures with the warm season and occurrences of snow with the following cold season, and to believe that once the first tentative snowflakes of autumn have arrived, the book has closed on 80(degrees) days.
Experience, however, teaches us that the weather sometimes defies the calendar. Not very often, but sometimes: three times, in fact, in 121 years of Chicago snow history (1885-2005).
Snowflakes occurred here on Sept. 25, 1928, followed by 82(degrees) on Oct. 10 and 87(degrees) on Oct. 11. Snow on Oct. 5, 1935, was followed by 83(degrees) on the 13th and 80(degrees) on the 17th. And flakes on Sept. 25, 1942, were followed by 82(degrees) (Oct. 1), 80(degrees) (Oct. 2) and 83(degrees) (Oct. 8).
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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.
Write to: ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Pl., Chicago, IL 60618 or asktomwhy@wgntv.com (Mail volume precludes personal response.)
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
