Although most of the national attention on the weather has focused on New England’s blizzards this winter, Chicago has not escaped winter’s wrath.
As of Feb 21, 37.4 inches of snow have fallen on the city this season, compared to a normal of 27.6 inches. In addition, the city has spent 47 days without breaking above the 0°C mark on the thermometer and 10 days where temps dipped below 0°F.
According to Tom Skilling, who writes the weather page for the Chicago Tribune, the cold doesn’t show any sign of letting up well into March. In fact, given the forecast highs for the rest of February, this month looks to be the 16th coldest February on record, while 120 Februarys had an average temperature higher than this month’s mark for Chicago of 15.4°F.
Boston’s bitter brrr
Boston has already experienced the snowiest February ever, obliterating the previous record by 42 percent. And the month’s not even over yet.
- February 2015 (so far): 61.5 inches
- January 2005: 43.3 inches
- January 1945: 42.3 inches
- February 2003: 41.6 inches
- February 1969: 41.3 inches
Snow days
An unexpected day off of school may be fun for kids but can throw a curve ball right at their parents.
“What I’m experiencing … is a loss of innocence,” writes Hinda Mandell on the website for WBUR in Boston. “It’s the realization that one of the best things from our youth — the unexpected snow day, a gift from the blizzard gods — is often greeted with ‘harrumph’ instead of ‘hurrah’ when parents need to juggle work schedules on short notice and arrange play dates to keep the kids entertained. Or, at the very least, occupied.”
Cold in Baltimore
Not even those of us south of the Mason-Dixon Line have been relieved of winter yet.
The National Weather Service reported that a record minimum temperature of 2°F was set at Baltimore this morning, breaking the old record of 8°F set in 1885.
