CHICAGO — Tuesday at 9:58 a.m. marked the arrival of winter, and with it came a weather record.
Barring an unforeseen snowfall later Tuesday, Chicago has gone the longest time into the cold-weather season — since records started being kept in 1871 — without any measurable snow. The previous record was 2012.
And forecasters say there still is no snow in sight.
“We’re going to be decently warm here going into the Christmas holiday,” said Kevin Birk, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Measurable snow is defined as at least one-tenth of an inch and so far that amount hasn’t fallen at O’Hare International Airport, where Chicago’s weather data is recorded.
For the first day of winter, the high temperature was forecast to be 40 degrees. A cold front was forecast to sweep across the area with wind gusts at about 35 mph, which will make the air cooler, according to Birk.
Wednesday’s high will be in the lower 30′s and on Thursday will see highs in the lower 40′s with a small possible chance of freezing drizzle, Birk said.
“We’re going to be decently warm here going into the Christmas holiday,” Birk said.
He predicts the weather will be around the 50-degree mark with a chance of rain on Christmas Eve.
“It’ll just be too warm for snow,” Birk said.
____
