Skilling: Warmer temps to come back starting on Thursday
ARCTIC AIR was back in control Wednesday and had the afternoon hours “feeling” 55-degrees colder than the comparable period yesterday when Wednesday’s stinging wind chills were factored in. The mild midnight Wed temp reading will go down on the books as the official Chicago O’Hare high of 50-degrees. Daytime readings had dropped to 20 by 9am Wed morning and only recovered to around 30 in the afternoon lending the air a “January” feel—quite a change from Tuesday’s late May-level 74 degree high which fell just 1-deg short of the record for the date.
Observed Chicago area THERMOMETER READINGS began tumbling in the wake of the powerful storms which swept the area late Tuesday—with O’Hare readings falling from 50 at midnight to 20-degrees by 9am Wednesday morning.
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Wednesday afternoon temps across the area were running 38 to 48 degrees lower than the comparable period Tuesday afternoon. The total temp drop between the near record 74-deg reading Tuesday afternoon to a temp hovering around 30-deg Wednesday amounts to an eye-catching 54-deg pullback—-NOT A RECORD “DAY TO NEXT” TEMP DROP (the record “day to next” temp drop is 61-degrees occurring in November, 1911—but among the larger such drops on the books here.
Wind gusts approaching 40 mph at times Wednesday only added to the chill—limiting afternoon wind chills across the Greater Chicago area to the upper teens and low 20s.
The cold is especially jarring given the fact we have a day left in a February and a meteorological/climatological winter season which are the warmest on the books here. Temps to date this month have averaged 11-deg ABOVE NORMAL—and the winter season temps since Dec 1 are posing just shy of a 7-degree surplus.
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Only 3 of the past 42 days have produced a BELOW NORMAL FULL DAY AVERAGE TEMP—and chilly as the current readings area, this cold spell won’t add to that tally.
As has happened with each cold spell this winter, the rebound will be fairly expeditious—with highs surging into the upper 40s Thursday, the low to mid 50s Friday, the 60s Saturday and the low 70s Sunday. The weekend warmth is UNSEASONABLE—more typical of May than early March (March gets underway
Full day average temps Saturday, Sunday and Monday will average 18 to 28-deg above normal—reading more typical in Chicago to the normal highs in late April and May.
MARCH WILL COME IN “LIKE A LAMB” this year—with plentiful sunshine and milder than normal temps. March is typically Chicago’s 2nd fastest warming month of the year—with average daily temps increasing 10-degree from March 1 to March 31 versus the 11 deg increases which have occurred historically in April and May—the area’s fastest warming months.
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National Weather Service STORM SURVEY CREWS have been out in the field today surveying damage from the Tuesday evening storms. We expect at least some preliminary assessments of the damage later today based on my conversation with the Chicago NWS Forecast Office in Romeoville.
Another side bar: DAYLIGHT CONTINUES ITS SEASON INCREASE—a trend which continues in coming months—with Chicagoans enjoying an additional 90 minutes of daylight (compared to today) by the end of March—i.e. in the next 32 days.
HERE’S MY LATEST WEDNESDAY CHICAGO METRO FORECAST (2/28/2024)
TONIGHT: Mainly clear, blustery and colder. Low 19.
THURSDAY: Sunny, breezy from the south/southwest with gusts topping 25 mph. Noticeably milder by and during the afternoon. High 49.
THURSDAY NIGHT: Scattered clouds toward morning, breezy and not as cold. Low 35.
FRIDAY: Partly cloudy, breezy and milder. High 53.
SATURDAY: Sunny, breezy and warmer. Temps surging to late-April levels—more than 20-deg above normal by afternoon. High 64.
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SUNDAY: Sunshine mixes with some incoming clouds, abnormally warm for the season—–windy too with some gusts building to 40 mph. High 73—a reading more typical of mid to late May.
MONDAY: Partly cloudy, windy and unseasonably warm again. Chance of some showers—but a better chance of more numerous showers and possible t-storms at night. High 71.
TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY: Winds off Lake Michigan along with clouds and increasing rain prospects lower temps. But readings remain above normal. High Tuesday 57; Wednesday’s high 48—but with lower readings near Lake Michigan.
You can see more of Skilling’s 10 Most Memorable Moments here!
Tom begins WGN career | Tom’s relationship with Fermilab | Plainfield Tornado reports
I’m Tom ‘freaking’ Skilling! | Groundhog Day Blizzard forecast | Tom goes storm chasing
1995 Heat Wave | Christmas Karaoke | Tom’s puppet forecast | 2017 eclipse
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