Chicago May See Record Warmth as Severe Weather Moves East

[Purveyor]

By Brian K. Sullivan - Jan 29, 2013
Chicago temperatures may set record highs today while heavy rain and severe storms sweep the Midwest and the Mississippi River Valley.

Chicago may reach a high for the date of 66 degrees Fahrenheit (19 Celsius) later today, surpassing an old mark of 59 set in 1914, according to the National Weather Service in Romeoville, Illinois. Records go back to 1872. The warmth won’t last long. The forecast high on Jan. 31 is 19 degrees.

“Temperatures in the 60s are very rare in January,” the weather service said in statement. “There have only been 33 January days with temperatures of 60 or greater in 141 years, or about once every four years.”

Flood watches have been posted for Illinois to Ohio because of the storm. The heavy rain will fall on frozen ground and probably run off immediately, according to the weather service. The result is the rains won’t help drought conditions much throughout the area, said Tom Kines, a meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania.

“Any rain they get out there is good, but the problem is it is coming all at once and a lot of it will run off,” Kines said by telephone. “It won’t do nearly as much good as if it came in April.”

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-01-29/chicago-may-see-record-warmth-as-severe-weather-moves-east.html

[Purveyor]

1. Predication for 60 here in lower michigan today then drop to 18 tomorrow night. eom

[frazzled]

2. Same here in Chicago: 66 today, down to 17 by Thursday morning.

It's insane.

[Lugnut]

3. It's already 48 degrees here.

I'm in the Western Pocono Mtns of Northeastern PA. We had an ice storm yesterday.

[datasuspect]

4. i was headed out I-90 westbound yesterday

the sun came out for a little bit - i was surprised how warm the sun felt on my skin.

the weird part about this winter is the frontal cycles: winter used to mean colder air masses stayed put for weeks, months on end.

now it's starting to seem like houston (blue norther followed by some colder weather, then warmer again).

rather than having stable air masses that keep it consistently cold, we're getting noticeable fluctuations - cold comes down, hot comes up. as far as winters go, this one hasn't been shit.

i'm thinking spring will be here early like last year.

[bullwinkle428]

5. Already 61° here in eastern Iowa right now (2 hours west of Chicago).

However, we're supposed to see temps approaching 0 by Thursday night!