Chicago’s coldest and snowiest days ever

In a metropolis identified for its ever-changing climate, Tom Skilling presents stability, Chicago.

Later this 12 months, the beloved WGN-TV chief meteorologist will rejoice his forty fifth anniversary on the station.

Forecasting has at all times been Skilling’s specialty — regardless of the medium. The Tribune known as him the “Accurate Auroran” in 1968, when the then-high faculty sophomore produced three each day segments on his native radio station WKKD. Right this moment, he’s much more prolific on Facebook the place he shares readers’ photographs and highlights distinctive local weather situations around the globe along with protecting us right here knowledgeable of what we are able to count on exterior within the days forward.

And since this winter has been slightly bizarre — a lot hotter and with much less snow than regular — I reached out to Skilling to offer some context. He clearly recollects a few of the most brutally frigid and blizzard-like situations Chicago has ever endured. Eight of the coldest temperatures and seven of the largest snowfalls ever recorded right here occurred in January. Tomorrow marks the thirty eighth anniversary of the coldest temperature ever recorded in Chicago, -27 levels.

He cautions that we ought to be ready for doubtlessly extreme climate regardless of the greater than 20 consecutive days of upper than regular temperatures we’re at the moment experiencing.

“The truth is, we’ve bought a sample change coming later subsequent week that may deliver colder air and now,” Skilling informed me yesterday. “At this level, it doesn’t appear to be will probably be of the identical depth of December’s chilly outbreak. However we’ve bought to observe that.”

We all know he’ll. 🙂

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— Kori Rumore, visible reporter

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Snow, ice, frozen practice tracks — it’s nothing new for residents of the Windy Metropolis. See more photos.

Chicago’s favourite meteorologist (sure, I mentioned it) explains why we’ve had virtually no snow this winter — and remembers the time he needed to push his automotive right into a storage behind WGN to heat it up throughout one brutally chilly winter:

“They used to do Bert Weinman Ford commercials in that storage so they’d an enormous turntable that they put the vehicles on because the announcer informed you concerning the newest deal. Properly, that’s the identical storage into which we pushed my automotive and after a few hours, I may lastly get it going once more. However, oh, it was simply terrible!

The environment took on a really virtually unworldly state at that time,” Skilling informed the Tribune. Read more.

• Ask Tom: When was the final January with so little snowfall?
• Ask Tom: Has it ever not snowed in January, February or March?
• Ask Tom: What’s the warmest temperature recorded in January?
• Ask Tom: What’s the most important consecutive-day temperature fluctuation?
• Ask Tom: What’s January Thaw?

Town skilled a day of frostbite, fuming motorists and freezing houses on Jan. 20, 1985. Read more.

The temperature was recorded doubtless earlier than 7:15 a.m. on Jan. 31, 2019, on the statement station in Mount Carroll, which sits west of Chicago within the state’s northwest pocket. Read more.

“It’s colder than a well-digger’s butt within the Klondike,” mentioned John Carroll, proprietor of the lone gasoline station in Congerville, the place residents have been streaming in to get microwaved sandwiches and jaw concerning the climate on Jan. 5, 1999. “I imply it’s chilly exterior. Very chilly.” Read more.

Snow started falling at 5:02 a.m. on Jan. 26, 1967, and didn’t cease till a record-breaking 23 inches had gathered the subsequent day, based on the Nationwide Climate Service, making it the worst snowstorm recorded in Chicago historical past.

Remarkably, the storm was preceded by unseasonable heat — it was 65 degrees simply two days earlier than the snow appeared. See more photos.

Mayor Richard M. Daley requested for persistence as town employed 700 items of heavy tools and greater than 1,400 staff on 12-hour shifts to clear the snow, which blanketed a lot of the higher Midwest in snow or ice from Jan. 1-3, 1999. President Invoice Clinton declared a snow emergency in 34 Illinois counties, together with Prepare dinner County. The invoice for snow-removal efforts within the first few days of the storm was an estimated $31.5 million. Read more.

• Ask Tom: Everybody remembers the Huge Snow of 1967 and the Blizzard of 1979 however none of my mates remembers the January 1999 snowstorm.
• Ask Tom: Why have been there ice piles alongside the Lake Michigan shoreline after the 1999 snowstorm?

The “Groundhog Day blizzard” wasn’t the city’s biggest blast of snow. Generations of youngsters have been introduced up on tales of the towering mounds of snow within the 1967 blizzard, which impressed creator George R.R. Martin’s iconic ice wall in “Sport of Thrones” and the 1979 blizzard that swung a mayoral election, amongst others.

However on Jan. 31, 2011, a uncommon meteorological mixture of fixed snowfall, freezing excessive winds and extremely charged lightning introduced on “Snowmageddon,” a blizzard that turned picturesque Jean Baptiste Level DuSable Lake Shore Drive into an arctic parking zone. Read more.

• Ask Tom: Did the 1967 Huge Snow or the 2011 Groundhog Day blizzard have increased winds?

The 20.3 inches of snow that fell on Chicago from Jan. 12-14, 1979, was the worst storm of a winter by which almost 90 inches of snow — the all-time season file — fell on town and was additionally remembered because the second-coldest in Chicago’s recorded historical past.

After observing town by helicopter, Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic ordered city snowplows to clear 250 school and Park District parking lots so residents may transfer their vehicles off the roads, however that effort was a failure. Many motorists couldn’t make it previous double- and triple-parked vehicles on the nonetheless unplowed aspect streets. Rubbish couldn’t be collected for at the very least 10 days. Mail was delivered late.

As an alternative of taking accountability for the mishandling of the snow elimination, Bilandic lashed out saying police could be ticketing automobiles and ordering them towed if not faraway from Chicago’s streets. He additionally mentioned there could be “no exceptions” for sick, elderly or poor people who couldn’t transfer their vehicles. “If there are hardship cases, they can tell that to a judge. That’s what a choose is for,” he informed reporters. Bilandic later apologized for his mishandling of the snow elimination, however Chicago residents — voters — weren’t glad. They elected Jane Byrne. Read more.

• Ask Tom: What triggered giant snowflakes in 1979 blizzard?
• Ask Tom: I keep in mind the Blizzard of ‘79 that introduced greater than 20 inches of snow to Chicago and northwest Indiana. Why do individuals in Knox, Ind., name it the Blizzard of ‘78?

Precisely 4 years after the 2011 snowstorm, Chicago skilled one other blizzard — this one throughout Super Bowl weekend.

Not like the 2011 Groundhog Day blizzard that meteorologists predicted days prematurely, this storm was harder to pinpoint, mentioned Nationwide Climate Service meteorologist David Beachler. See more photos.

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Have an thought for Classic Chicago Tribune? Share it with Ron Grossman and Marianne Mather at rgrossman@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com.