Dear Tom,
A recent column stated that the brutally hot 1988 summer didn’t even make the city’s top 10 hottest list. What was the city’s hottest summer?
— Peter Koss
Dear Peter,
Chicago’s hottest summer title belongs to the summer of 1955, which logged 46 days of 90 degrees or higher and just one day in the 100s, and had many muggy nights with lows holding in the 70s. Based on its average temperature of 76.4 degrees, it eked out a narrow victory over the runner-up summer of 1995, which averaged 76.3 degrees. Rounding out the top five hottest summers are 2012, 76.1 degrees; 1921, 75.9 degrees; and 1959, 75.5 degrees. Despite its record number of 90- and 100-degree days, the 1988 drought summer logged several cool nights, which exacted a toll on the average temperature.
