Dear Tom,
I recall a late March cold spell in the mid-1970s. Temperatures fell to near zero a few days after the vernal equinox, and I couldn’t get my car started.
When was that?
— John Boulet, River Grove
Dear John,
The date was March 24, 1974, and record cold gripped the Chicago area. At O’Hare International Airport, the mercury bottomed out at record low of 5 degrees above zero, while readings in areas west of the Fox River hovered near zero.
The month started out in spectacularly warm fashion, reaching a high of 71 degrees on March 2. The following day was even warmer as the city logged its earliest-ever 80-degree temperature, a record that still stands. After a 69-degree high on March 9, colder air moved in and temperatures fluctuated through the 30s and 40s for the next two weeks. The intense late-season cold arrived on the heels of a strong arctic front on March 23, setting a slew of low temperature records throughout the Midwest.
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