Dear Tom,
Last winter seemed to be the winter that never was. What was the coldest it got? My wife seems to think we never got below 25 degrees!
-- Steve Deegan, Gurnee
Dear Steve,
Though last winter was a piece of cake in terms of lack of cold and snow, it did get quite a bit colder than 25 degrees. The winter’s lowest reading was 5 above, logged on Jan. 15, 19 and 20 during the winter’s coldest stretch. The only other winter to log a higher season’s-lowest reading was the winter of 1905-06, with 6 degrees. Winter 2011-12 was just the city’s 13th since 1871 that failed to log a subzero reading, and recorded only 14 days with subfreezing highs, second only to 1877-78 with eight. Seasonal snowfall totaled just 19.8 inches, the least in 63 years, since 14.3 inches fell in the winter of 1948-49.
