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We’ve recently broken long-standing cold records from 1903. My father was born on November 16, 1903 in southern Illinois. His mother always said it was so cold that day that eggs froze in the straw stacks. Just how cold was it?
Thanks,
Phyllis Lentz
Libertyville
Dear Phyllis,
The cold weather in November, 1903 was the harbinger for what was to be a very cold winter in the Midwest. In Chicago the winter of 1903-1904 averaged 18.3 degrees and still stands as the city’s coldest on record, even edging out the brutally cold 1976-77 winter which averaged 18.4 degrees. Downstate records indicate that November, 1903 opened mild with temperatures reaching the 70s on several days. Colder weather followed by the middle of the month with daytime highs below freezing and overnight lows into the teens in the days following your father’s birth.
Must have been epoch. That 18.3F winter mean of 1903-04 was a temp recorded on the lakeshore where the official thermometer was at that time. I can only imagine what it was like 10-20 miles inland...... The official station in 1976-77 was at Midway airport further inland from the lake's moderating influence.
Interestingly, both years had extremely cold Novembers.... This November has been 2nd coldest on record to date. Is there a pattern here? Should we be expecting a similar winter to those two?
ar Tom,
What was the city’s greatest temperature deviation from normal on any day in its history?
—Allen Moody, Island Lake?
Dear Allen,
The date was Christmas Eve in 1983, the coldest day in Chicago’s history based on the average temperature. The high was 11 below zero and the low was minus 25 giving the day an average temperature of minus 18. We had Chicago climatologist Frank Wachowski dig through check the archives to check the normal temperatures in effect at that time for December 24 based on 1951-1980 data. His findings: The December 24 normal average temperature was 25 making the day’s departure from normal a record 43 degrees. Wachowski also noted that the city’s greatest positive departure from normal was 37 degrees on January 23, 1909 when the high was 65 and the low 56.
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