Dear Tom,
You pointed out Chicago’s lack of 100-degree days, but it seems recent years have produced few 90s. When was our last hot summer with a lot of days in the 90s?
—Roger Bressler
Dear Roger,
Your observation that hot days have been in short supply here in recent summers is right on. Using Midway Airport data, so far this year we have logged just five days in the 90s following an anemic seven in 2009 and 10 in 2008. The city’s long-term average for 90-degree days is 23, a value that has not been topped since 2005 when the Midway Airport thermometer cracked 90 degrees on 35 days. The city’s record for the most days of 90 degrees or higher is 48, established during the torrid drought summer of 1988. Some of Chicago’s really hot summers occurred from 1952-1955, logging 38, 42, 36 and 46 days of 90-degree-plus temperatures respectively.
