By Meteorologist Paul Merzlock
On Sunday the high temperature at O'hare airport will remain below freezing, marking only the 12th such occurrence this winter season. Normally, Chicago experiences 42 sub-freezing days over the course of the winter. This is just another statistic measuring how mild the winter of 2011-2012 has been. Intrusions of polar air into the continental U.S. have been minor, with the core of arctic air remaining bottled up over northwest Canada and Alaska. Cold spells have been brief as well. The longest stretch of consecutive sub-freezing days was a 4-day period from the 18th through the 21st of January. Our current brush with wintry weather will be no different. Mild air will once again sweep across the Midwest on Monday. Stout south to southwest winds will send temperatures soaring well into the 40s both Monday and Tuesday, with some 50 degree readings not out of the question. A brief cool down is expected later in the week, but the long term trend through February will favors mild temperatures.
On Sunday the high temperature at O'hare airport will remain below freezing, marking only the 12th such occurrence this winter season. Normally, Chicago experiences 42 sub-freezing days over the course of the winter. This is just another statistic measuring how mild the winter of 2011-2012 has been. Intrusions of polar air into the continental U.S. have been minor, with the core of arctic air remaining bottled up over northwest Canada and Alaska. Cold spells have been brief as well. The longest stretch of consecutive sub-freezing days was a 4-day period from the 18th through the 21st of January. Our current brush with wintry weather will be no different. Mild air will once again sweep across the Midwest on Monday. Stout south to southwest winds will send temperatures soaring well into the 40s both Monday and Tuesday, with some 50 degree readings not out of the question. A brief cool down is expected later in the week, but the long term trend through February will favors mild temperatures.
