Chicago's New Year's Day Cold Makes History

The year 2018 is off to an historic start for Chicago -- but not a pleasant one. 

According to the National Weather Service, the Chicago area saw its lowest-recorded high temperature on a New Year’s Day - ever. The city's low maximum temperature was set at 1 degree at O'Hare Airport Monday. The previous record was five degrees above zero, which occurred in 1969. 

A record low average temperature was also set at -4 degrees at O'Hare Airport. The previous record for lowest average temperature for Jan. 1 was -2.5 degrees, also set in 1969.

Today was coldest #NewYearsDay on record in #Chicago! W/high temp. of 1° (set a new record cold max. temp, previous was 5° in 1969) & preliminary low temp of -9°, the avg temp of -4° as of 4pm is coldest avg. temp on record for 1/1 (previous record -2.5° in 1969). #chiberia #ilwx

— NWS Chicago (@NWSChicago) January 1, 2018

Record/near record cold psbl #NewYearsDay 2018 in #Chicago and #Rockford. Listed are current records, last subzero temp at 12am 1/1. #ilwx pic.twitter.com/6dkCFNiiql

— NWS Chicago (@NWSChicago) December 31, 2017

New Year's Day brought wind chill warnings and advisories to the area as readings dipped to dangerous levels. 

A Wind Chill Warning was issued for several Chicago-area counties, including McHenry, DeKalb, Kane, LaSalle, Kendall and Kankakee.

Stunning Photos of Chicago in the Cold

The warning remained in effect until noon Monday with wind chills forecast between 20 and 35 below-zero. A second warning begins for LaSalle and Kankakee counties at 7 p.m. and continues to 1 p.m. Tuesday. 

A Wind Chill Advisory was also in place for the entire metro area until noon Tuesday with readings ranging from 20 to 30 below-zero. 

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Things stay cold Tuesday with highs between 9 and 13 degrees forecast and wind chill readings well bellow-zero.