Dear Tom,
I remember record warmth in January 1996 followed by a huge temperature drop. What were the details?
Joe Anthony
Bourbonnais, Ill.
Dear Joe,
The scenario you remember occurred back on January 18-19, 1996. Just before noon on January 18, 1996 the temperature at O’Hare climbed to record-levels, a balmy 61 degrees as howling south winds gusted to nearly 45 m.p.h. However, the city’s “spring-fling” was fleeting as a strong cold front accompanied by heavy thunderstorms slammed into the area. Temperatures plunged, dropping the mercury to 49 (degrees) by 3 p.m. and to 39 (degrees) by 4 p.m. By midnight the day’s earlier warmth was all but forgotten as the temperature was down to 13 degrees with subzero wind chills. Readings continued to fall overnight, bottoming out at a frigid 4 (degrees) by 7:30 a.m. the next morning, a precipitous drop of 57 (degrees) in just 18 hours — one of the city’s largest temperature declines on record.
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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.
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