Dear Tom,
How common is it to go an entire winter without a below zero temperature?
—Larry Voves, Orland Park
Dear Larry,
It’s quite unusual. In the 141 winters dating to 1870-71, Chicago has logged only a dozen winters that failed to produce a subzero day, about 1 every 12 years. It’s been nearly 30 years since the city last had a winter without below-zero temperatures (in 1982-83), but subzero cold definitely has been an infrequent visitor in recent winters. The winter of 2004-05 produced just one such day; there were only two in 2005-06, one in 2009-10 and four last winter. In contrast, Chicago’s winter with the most subzero days was in 1884-85 when the mercury dropped into negative territory 25 times. Despite this winter’s ongoing mild character, early February is the city’s most frequent period for subzero readings, so we may still drop below zero this winter.
