Dear Tom,
We are experiencing a long string of above normal days. What is the city’s record?
Chris Wronkiewicz
Dear Chris,
Your question is much more difficult to answer than it appears. Chicago’s daily normal temperatures are updated every ten years, and over the decades have changed sometimes by several degrees, a result of subtle climate change, increasing urbanization and movement of the official observation site. To accurately answer your question would involve comparing the archived daily temps with the normals that were in effect at that time, a monumental task. The current string of above normal days stands at 30 through Jan. 8, but prospects of colder weather this weekend could finally snap it. Checking as far back as the 1980s, the longest above normal streak we could find occurred just last winter–48 days from Dec. 23, 2005 through Feb. 8, 2006.
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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.
