The heat and the chill: the hottest and coldest days in Springfield's history

On any given day in Springfield, it's common to hear a comment about the ever-changing weather conditions in the area, from a lament of unseasonably chilly weather in April or complaints of continued warmth in the fall months.

But there are some days that go well beyond that, days of unrelenting heat or extreme cold.

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Here is a list of the warmest and coldest days for each month in Springfield, according to the National Weather Service:

January

Coldest: -12 degrees, Jan. 5, 1884. The front page of the Jan. 5 Illinois State Journal had an ad for popular stove brands, appropriate considering the need for heat during the coldest day in the recorded history of Springfield. The chill in the air was described as "sharp and penetrating", with livestock near Chicago also being frozen as a result.

Honorable mention: At least within the last 30 years, the coldest day came on Jan. 18, 1994, when high temperatures only hit 6 degrees below zero and wind chills got as low as 60 below.

Warmest: 73 degrees, Jan. 23, 1909. The Jan. 24 Illinois State Journal reported on the surprising warmth of the prior day noting that "the evil contrariness of the weatherman's nature will be evidenced today when he starts out to spoil the imitation spring that Miss January is at present handing out."

Honorable mention: Temperatures hit 67 degrees on Jan. 3 of this year, on the heels of a frigid period in which temperatures barely crept above zero.

February

Coldest: -6 degrees, Feb. 9, 1899. Only one other time before had February weather been so cold – four years prior in 1895, when temperatures didn't get above zero degrees. According to the Illinois State Journal from Feb. 9, plumbing was an issue and some people suffered frostbite.

Honorable mention: The last time high temperatures didn't reach the zero-degree mark in Springfield was in 1996, when temperatures on Feb. 2-3 hit just one degree below zero. Conditions were so cold that Daisy, a groundhog stationed at the Henson Robinson Zoo, wouldn't come out of her box to make her yearly weather prediction, despite the best efforts of staff to coax her out with banana.

Warmest: 78 degrees, Feb. 24, 1930. Up was down in the months after the stock market crash, including the weather, which showed an early spring preview across central Illinois. A series of severe storms dumped more than an inch of rain, knocked out power, and flooded areas of the city early that morning, with continued rain throughout the day.

Honorable mention: Temperatures topped 70 degrees four times during February 2017 – 73 degrees on Feb. 17, 71 on Feb. 19, 76 on Feb. 20 and 72 on Feb. 28.

March

Warmest: 91 degrees, March 21, 1907. Early spring of 1907 brought summer-like conditions to Springfield, perfect timing for the start of the baseball season.

"The baseball season in Springfield will open Sunday," the March 22 Illinois State Journal said. "President Kinsella closed a deal with the Gillespie team, champions of the Trolley league, and the new timber that will compose the Senators will meet them in the first game of the year."

Honorable mentions: At least six record highs were reached in March 2012, with a high of 83 degrees reached on March 14-15.

Coldest: 12 degrees, March 4, 1960. Coming after a snowstorm that dumped more than five inches on the city the prior day, a cold front blasted Springfield with Arctic air, even causing the death of one man found frozen behind a snow drift.

Honorable mentions from recent years: Springfield last saw temperatures dip below 20 degrees in March in 2002, when brisk, 18-degree temperatures followed a dumping of snow on the city.

April

Warmest: 90 degrees, April 10-11, 1930, April 25, 1986. A heat wave that covered much of the Midwest helped bring summer-like temperatures for two straight days during 1930.

"A low-pressure area bringing winds from the southwest was said to have been the cause of this heat," the April 11 Illinois State Journal reported.

Southwest winds also brought with it record-breaking temperatures in 1986.

Honorable mentions: Over a three-day period from April 1-3, 2012, the city broke three high temperature records, with 88 degrees being seen on April 1.

Coolest: 30 degrees, April 1, 1881, April 4-5, 1920. The frigid 1881 temperatures came with snow off to the north, along with some flooding along the Missouri River, according to the April 1 Illinois State Journal.

"This spring the river has broke in places from 100 to 300 miles apart, causing gorges which have flooded the country in many places, but owing to the scarcity of people, little damage has been done to this point," the Journal said.

In 1920, a snowstorm dumped more than six inches of accumulation along with the chilly temperatures over the Easter weekend.

Honorable mentions: 1982 was the last time high temperatures in April went below the freezing mark, with 32 degrees recorded at Capital Airport on April 7. The chill shocked some Springfield Cardinals players who were coming for the start of the Midwest League season.

"(Freddie) Silva, a native of Puerto Rico, was particularly dismayed, saying that it never gets below 50 degrees at home," the April 8 State Journal-Register reported.

May

Warmest: 101 degrees, May 31, 1934. The extremely warm condition in Springfield was a sign of things to come with the continued Dust Bowl conditions throughout the summer of 1934. According to the May 31 Illinois State Journal, the month had been one of the driest on record, with only 0.32 inches of rain falling in Springfield.

The June 1 Journal described a city that "jammed Memorial swimming pool, seeking relief from the sun's rays," along with soaring prices of wheat due to the dry conditions.

Honorable mention: May's hottest day of the 21st century came on May 28, 2018, when the mercury reached 98 degrees on Memorial Day. That didn't deter crowds from honoring the occasion at Camp Butler National Cemetery.

"Like most people Monday, (Sammy and Joan Davis) chose to sit under a large tree next to the administration building in an attempt to escape the 98-degree weather," said John Reynolds of the SJ-R.

Coolest: 41 degrees, May 1, 1909, May 6, 1989. Stormy and surprisingly cool temperatures greeted people at the start of May 1909. Damage was reported throughout the Midwest, even leading to the collapse of a bridge in Peoria, according to the May 2 Illinois State Journal.

"Two-thirds of the city's new bridge now lies at the bottom of the (Illinois) river and of the three spans, nothing but the wrecked piers remain," the Journal said.

The 1989 cold snap caused nursery owners to cover much of their growing crops, with the Kentucky Derby that day – won by Sunday Silence in the start of his legendary rivalry with Easy Goer – being the coldest in memory.

Honorable mentions: High temperatures have never gone below freezing in May, although lows did hit 32 degrees on May 9, 2020, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

June

Warmest: 104 degrees, June 1, 28-29, 1934. Three different times in June of 1934 had temperatures reach 104, as the Midwest was gripped by the Dust Bowl. The June 29 Illinois State Journal noted that "it would have been difficult to tell just how high the mercury might have climbed had it not been for interference with the Sun's work by the clouds.

Honorable mentions: June 18, 2021, came close to providing a recent example of triple-digit temperatures, with a high of 99 degrees at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport.

Coolest: 52 degrees, June 3, 1945. In the afterglow of America's victory over the Axis in Europe, temperatures got a bit chilly in early June 1945.

Honorable mentions: High temperatures haven't been seriously cool in June in recent years, but 2003 saw a record low of 39 degrees on June 1.

July

Warmest: 114 degrees, July 14, 1954. The Dust Bowl era saw at least 18 daily records reached, but they don't stand a candle to this absolute scorcher from the 1950s. Conditions were so hot in Springfield that two people died from heat stroke and people avoided shopping outside at downtown stores.

"Business in downtown stores dwindled as housewives stayed at home rather than brave the 'furnace blasts' that bounced up from sunbaked pavements," the July 15 Illinois State Journal said. "An inspector for the city's building department commented that 'I never saw so many vacant parking spaces downtown.'"

Honorable mentions: July 2012 probably doesn't match the Dust Bowl for sheer dryness, but at least four record highs were set that year – 104 on July 6-7, 103 on July 25, and 101 on July 31.

Coolest: 63 degrees, July 14, 1990. Thirty-six years after setting a record high, Springfield set a new record for coolest high temperature in July, with weather more suited for early spring than summer.

Honorable mentions: One year after experiencing record heat, Springfield saw record cool in 2013, with lows reaching 48 degrees on July 28.

August

Warmest: 108 degrees, Aug. 8-9, 1934. The Dust Bowl's unrelenting heat led to the death of four people in central Illinois, according to the Aug. 9 Illinois State Journal.

"Scores of persons in Springfield and central Illinois were overcome by the heat," the Journal said. "John Sullivan, 1816 East Pine Street, a laborer at Lake Springfield, suffered a sunstroke yesterday afternoon. He was removed in an unconscious condition to St. John's Hospital where he died at 8:15 o'clock last night."

Honorable mentions: This year's late August heat wave had nothing on 1988, when a full-on drought caused high temperatures to reach record highs on Aug. 16-17. The Aug. 17 SJ-R reported CWLP saying that they had reached a record for power demand, at 375 megawatts of energy, with the heat damping down attendance at the Illinois State Fair and killing off livestock.

Coolest: 61 degrees, Aug. 26, 1944. Wet and cool conditions greeted Springfield on Aug. 26 as people woke up to the news of the Allies liberating Paris in World War II.

Honorable mentions: The Illinois State Fair is regularly held during sweltering summer temperatures, so it was a surprise in 2004 to have high temperatures only crack 65 degrees on Aug. 12, the day of the Twilight Parade.

"Mark Kolaz, deputy director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, typically runs about the fair in shorts," the SJ-R reported. "On Wednesday, he had switched to jeans."

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September

Warmest: 102 degrees, Sept. 1, 2011. Probably the most recent example of supremely warm temperatures in Springfield, this triple-digit day was so hot that the Springfield Education Association blasted Springfield Public Schools District #186 for not dismissing students in the extreme heat.

"Dan Ford, president of the Springfield Education Association, sent an email to (then-Superintendent Walter) Milton and Alexander Ikejiaku, the district's director of human resources, that accused the district of 'gross disregard for the safety of our staff and students in the event of extreme heat in many of our buildings,'" Rhys Saunders of the SJ-R said.

Students were dismissed one hour earlier on Friday, which also set a record high of 101 degrees, just in time for the Labor Day weekend.

Honorable mentions: Springfield hasn't topped the 100-degree mark in September since 2011, although 2017 saw six days in a seven-day period set record highs, with the peak coming on Sept. 20 and 22 at 96 degrees.

Coolest: 46 degrees, Sept. 25, 1942. Late September 1942 saw a greater chill than what was expected at the outset of fall, combined with a series of thunderstorms across the area.

Honorable mentions: It's rare to see freezing temperatures in central Illinois, but that's what happened on Sept. 23, 1995, when overnight lows hit 32 degrees in the last hours of summer.

October

Coolest: 23 degrees, Oct. 29, 1925. A surprise arctic chill frustrated farmers who were still trying to get their fall wheat crops in the ground.

"Many fields which had been prepared for the grain are still unplanted," the Oct. 30 Illinois State Journal reported. "Planting is, of course, out of the question with the ground frozen."

Honorable mentions: Freezing highs aren't common in Springfield in October, but Halloween 2019 came pretty close, with a 34-degree high on Oct. 31 and some snowfall, about 2.3 inches according to the NWS.

Warmest: 93 degrees, Oct. 2, 1953, Oct. 3, 1954, Oct. 3, 2006. In 1953, hot conditions greeted Gov. William Stratton as he cut the ribbon on a portion of Route 66 from Sherman to Lincoln.

"Stratton said that the completion of the new superhighway segment is 'just the beginning of the greatest road building program in the history of the state,'" according to the Oct. 3 Illinois State Journal.

The next year, conditions also hit record highs, with scattered thunderstorms following that weather pattern.

In 2006, a surprising blast of summer came through at the outset of fall, with 93-degree temperatures reached.

Honorable mentions: 2016 was the last time summer-like temperatures hit central Illinois in October, with a record high of 88 degrees reached on Oct. 17.

November

Coolest: 6 degrees, Nov. 24, 1950. Following a Thanksgiving Day snowfall that dumped an inch on the city and made road conditions hazardous, chilly weather gave an early winter preview on Black Friday.

"Garages and owners of towing trucks did a large business throughout the day as cars piled into one another and slid into ditches, but there were no serious accidents within the city limits," the Nov. 25 Illinois State Journal reported.

Honorable mentions: Nov. 12, 2019, recorded an 18-degree high temperature, the coldest in Springfield since 1955 in November.

"Winds of 15-20 mph, with gusts of 30 mph, added to drivers' misery," according to the SJ-R.

Warmest: 83 degrees, Nov. 1, 1950. The weather of November 1950 was probably enough to give people whiplash, pneumonia or both. Weeks prior to the record lows, Springfield set a record high for the month with summer-like conditions.

Honorable mentions: With days to go before a presidential election, 82-degree weather on Nov. 2, 2016 may have felt to some like a sign of good things to come or a sign of the apocalypse.

That warmth also meant tornadoes, with a twister spotted outside Williamsville that afternoon.

December

Coolest: -11 degrees, Dec. 24, 1983. The weather outside was indeed frightful on Christmas Eve 1983, with high winds knocking out power and closing roads throughout Sangamon County.

"Lt. Chris Kratzer of the Sangamon County sheriff's department said crews were called in early Saturday afternoon to wait for the wind to die down," according to the SJ-R Christmas Day edition. "Once it does, he said, crews will go back out to reopen roads."

Honorable mentions: Below-zero highs haven't been seen in December in Springfield since 1989, when temperatures hit just 3 below zero on Dec. 22.

Warmest: 74 degrees, Dec. 3, 1970, Dec. 3, 2012, Dec. 28, 1984. Rarely are short sleeves warm enough to wear during December, but in 1970, 1984, and 2012, you could.

Still, there were extremely high winds in 1984. On Dec. 29, winds were clocked at 25-28 miles per hour, the SJ-R reported.

Honorable mention: Dec. 12, 2015, was the last time temperatures hit 70 degrees for a day in Springfield, setting a record high.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: A look back at the hottest and coldest days in Springfield's history