Dear Tom,
Have we ever gone through an entire September without recording an 80?
— Brian Beecher
Dear Brian,
It has happened but only once in 139 years of weather records. The year was 1876, when the city’s official thermometer was located downtown near Lake Michigan. The highest temperature that September was just 78 degrees recorded on Sept. 1 and again on Sept. 19. Since then, the closest the city has come to an 80s-less September was in 1993, when only one was recorded, an even high of 80 degrees on Sept. 12. The month was cloudy, with only 52 percent of possible sunshine, and quite cool, averaging 5.2 degrees below normal. Besides the pronounced lack of 80s, it featured five days with highs in the 50s, and the month ended with a freeze with the low temperature reaching 31 degrees on Sept. 30.
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Write to: ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Pl., Chicago, IL 60618 or: asktomwhy@wgntv.com
Weather Report is prepared by the WGN-TV Weather Center, where Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN News at 11:30 a.m., 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.
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