It isn’t just your imagination: this February has been one of the warmest on record in the city of Chicago, and in fact is hitting territory not seen in nearly 150 years.
According to the National Weather Service, the high temperature has exceeded 40 degrees every day so far this month, including on Valentine’s Day.
That comes as average high temperatures are usually around 33-to-34 degrees each day, and with the prolonged warm spell, we are hitting territory not seen in our lifetimes.
According to NWS officials, the 14 consecutive days of readings of 40 degrees or higher marks the longest such stretch to begin the month of February since all the way back in 1882, 142 years ago.
The one difference will end up being the end of that streak, according to forecast models. While Chicago made it 16 days without a high temperature below 40 degrees back in 1882, the city likely won’t quite reach that mark, as high temperatures are expected to dip in coming days.
The next question will concern whether or not the city will break its record for warmest daily average temperatures for the month of February.
According to NWS, that record was hit in 1882, when the average daily temperature, measured as the mean point between the high and low temperature recorded on a given day, was 39 degrees.
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Not including Wednesday’s readings, our average temperature so far this month is 38.8 degrees, which would be the second-warmest February on record.
As for the question of whether we will break that record, it remains to be seen, but a cooldown is coming. After highs in the low-to-mid 40s on Thursday, temperatures are expected to dip into the 30s for several days before bouncing back into the mid-to-upper 40s by Sunday.
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