Earlier this week, snow fell in Chicago. But 48 hours later, temperatures rose to 70 degrees, effectively melting it all and giving residents quite a shock.
According to local station WGN on April 16, the strange weather broke a meteorological record. Since records started in the 19th century, “never before … has a 3-plus inch snowfall been followed by 70-plus degree temps 48 hours later.”
However, in 1989, 5.6 inches of snow fell on October 19 and 20 before temperatures rose to 70 degrees on October 24, the report noted.
BREAKING: The WGN stat machine worked overtime on this one, but folks meteorological history has been made today in…
由 Bill Snyder 发布于 2019年4月16日周二
Decades earlier, in March 1916, 2.6 inches fell before temperatures rose to 72 degrees three days later.
What a difference 30 hours makes! Snow is long gone and spring is here to stay! #ilwx #spring @WGNNews @MorganKolkmeyer @DIvory_WGN pic.twitter.com/1OkPDQ9DKd
— Bill Snyder (@billyweather) April 16, 2019
Weather history has been made friends!! @WGNNews @MikeHamernik @MorganKolkmeyer @MikeJanssenWX @WGNWeatherGuy @NWSChicago “https://t.co/4QUHfNffrY“
— Bill Snyder (@billyweather) April 16, 2019
According to AccuWeather, Chicago saw the most mid-April snow in more than 50 years earlier this week.
“Chicago’s O’Hare Airport was whitened by 5.3 inches of snow on Sunday. That made April 14 one of the top-two snowiest days this late in the season. The snowiest day in the city’s history from April 14 to early May is 5.4 inches of snow on April 16, 1961,” said the report.
As the clouds cleared over the Great Lakes this morning, #GOESEast saw some of the snow in Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan slowly start to melt away. Learn more about how to tell snow and clouds apart in satellite imagery: https://t.co/LJSzGqKY3L pic.twitter.com/xHGX8I01c0
— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) April 15, 2019
Enjoying #spring in #Chicago this morning…let it #snow #Naperville pic.twitter.com/Sgig40yIPu
— Matthew (@mwalno) April 14, 2019
The latest snowfall of the year in Chicago history occurred in June 1910.
“Temperatures are expected to climb back into the upper 40s and 50s Fahrenheit on Monday where it was snowing on Sunday,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski said on the website.
In the snowstorm earlier this week, temperatures were in the 30s with a wind chill in the 20s, ABC7 noted.
Temperatures in Chicago are now forecast to reach highs in the 60s and 50s in the coming week.
Severe Weather
USA Today reported on April 16 that 100 million Americans are due to experience severe weather this week, including thunderstorms and tornadoes.
“We expect numerous thunderstorms to develop in the Plains, Midwest and South starting Wednesday, spreading eastward Thursday and Friday,” the Weather Channel said, according to the newspaper.
4/16 12:55 PM CDT: Severe storms capable of scattered damaging winds and very large hail are expected tomorrow (Wednesday) across parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas during the day, and eastern Texas, Arkansas and northern Louisiana overnight. Isolated tornadoes may also occur. pic.twitter.com/cihO8AkQXP
— NWS SPC (@NWSSPC) April 16, 2019
Multi-day threat of #severe thunderstorms begins Wednesday in the Plains and is expected to spread into parts of the South, Midwest and East: https://t.co/e2Canlzriz pic.twitter.com/SaKoaMiScj
— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) April 16, 2019
Cold Record Shattered
Earlier this year, a cold-weather record was broken when temperatures hit minus 23 degrees at O’Hare International Airport in January.
“Rockford broke the record for its all-time lowest temperature Thursday morning when it hit 30 degrees below zero (-34 Celsius),” NBC Chicago said on Jan. 31. “The National Weather Service says Thursday’s temperature at 6:45 a.m. beats the previous record low of minus 27 (-32 Celsius) recorded Jan. 10, 1982.”
It added that a cold record “was shattered in Chicago too as temperatures reached minus 23 degrees overnight at O’Hare International Airport. That broke the previous daily record of 15 degrees below zero, which was set on Jan. 31, 1966.”
The cold weather came amid the polar vortex that swept over the Central and Northeastern U.S. this year.
