Chicago's weather has been strange this week, to say the least--and the rollercoaster ride is far from over before the weekend arrives.
There is a Hazardous Weather Outlook for north central and northeast Illinois as well as Northwest Indiana Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
The region will see a limited thunderstorm and fog risk, according to the NWS, and showers could spread over the region overnight. No severe storms are expected, the service says, but some heavy rainfall is possible.
Temperatures Friday in the south suburbs could hit the 60s but will be colder to the north.
More storms are possible Friday and the region could see snow later that night or early Saturday morning.
Ground warmth should keep any possible snow from accumulating.
After a wet, springlike morning followed the city's four-day streak of record-breaking warmth on Tuesday, unseasonable temperatures quickly returned.
Chicago broke a temperature record four days in a row from last Friday through Monday, when O'Hare hit 65 degrees, breaking a high set in 1930. [[414265253, C]]
At 1:02 p.m. last Sunday, the temperature at O’Hare International Airport hit 66 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. That balmy number just beat the record of 65 degrees set in 1930.
About an hour before that, Rockford saw a temperature of 64 degrees, eclipsing the previous record that was also set in 1930.
Last Saturday, Rockford reached 59 degrees at 11:12 a.m., while O’Hare saw 63 degrees just 13 minutes later – breaking the record set in 1981.
Saturday’s temperatures continued to climb, and the city saw 70 degree warmth in February for just the fourth time since 1871, according to the National Weather Service. [[414209403, L]]
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The other times temperatures at O’Hare reached 70 degrees this month were 75 degrees on Feb. 27, 1976, 72 degrees on Feb. 25, 2000 and 70 degrees on Feb. 11, 1999 – meaning that in addition to being tied for the third highest temperature ever recorded in February, Saturday’s warmth was also the second earliest 70 degree reading in Chicago. [[407832135, R]]
At 1 p.m. on Saturday, the National Weather Service noted that O’Hare’s 68 degrees meant Chicago was warmer than Los Angeles (54 degrees), Phoenix, Arizona (60 degrees) and Tallahassee, Florida (63 degrees).
The weekend’s record-breaking streak began at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, when 62 degrees at O’Hare shattered the high set all the way back in 1880. [[414159193, C]]
The city’s unusual warmth comes during a winter that has seen remarkably little snow. This January saw just 0.6 inches of snow well below, the month’s average snowfall of 5.2 inches.
Through mid-December, the Chicago area saw 17.7 inches of snow, making the winter snow total 18.3 inches – 7.3 inches below average. [[402534505, C]]
