Dear Tom,
I seem to remember several instances of mild days in the middle of winter. Can we expect one of these “January Thaws” every year?
Lou Linneweh, Carol Stream
Dear Lou,
With all of our recent mild weather, we should probably look for a “January Freeze” instead of a “January Thaw.” All kidding aside, the “January Thaw” is a weather singularity: an event that occurs around a date with greater frequency than chance would dictate. It usually arrives in mid or late January and seems to be most pronounced in New England and to a lesser extent in the Midwest.
In Chicago, long-term daily January temperature averages show a small bump between Jan. 20-24. Since 1871, the city has had only one January where the mercury failed to reach the 32(degrees) threshold. That was January 1977–but it is interesting to note that the 30(degrees) high for the month came on Jan. 24.
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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.
