Chicago Enjoys It’s Mildest Mid-December Since 1939
Tuesday, December 19th, 2006Tom Skilling writes:
The temperature turnaround since December’s opening week has been remarkable. The metro area is in the midst of its mildest mid-December period in the 67 years since 1939 - a major change from the chill which gripped the area in this month’s opening 8 days. That opening was the 6th coldest December here since 1870. The 40° average temperature over the past week and a half is running 11.8° above the 136 year average. Only five December 10th-20th periods have been milder. The period is running more than 20° warmer than the same period a year ago.
This fact worries me. An analogy that a lot of meteorologists like to use is that weather patterns are like a rubber band. The farther you pull it in one direction, the harder it snaps back the other way. One could also liken this to a pendulum. This long period of warmer than normal weather is lending credence to the idea that we will see a major pattern change early in the new year, leading to periods of extreme cold. Of course there are other factors, but this is usually a good rule to get a gut feeling about things.
