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A cloud filled sky is reflected in a puddle near Fullerton Street Beach in Chicago as a cyclist rides south along Lake Michigan. (Anthony Souffle, Chicago Tribune)
Chicago’s snow banks
have finally melted, its temperature readings are firmly above freezing and the grass is even turning green.
But the end of this historically nasty winter hasn’t meant a return to balmy beach weather. When May begins Thursday, it could be as cold as it has been here in nearly 75 years.
“What we’ve been seeing is just the cloudy cool days with rain chances, and that looks to continue to be the case,” said Stephen Rodriguez, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
have finally melted, its temperature readings are firmly above freezing and the grass is even turning green.But the end of this historically nasty winter hasn’t meant a return to balmy beach weather. When May begins Thursday, it could be as cold as it has been here in nearly 75 years.
“What we’ve been seeing is just the cloudy cool days with rain chances, and that looks to continue to be the case,” said Stephen Rodriguez, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
Though visions of tulips and leafy trees might have helped some Chicagoans endure the bitter winter, spring color has been in short supply until recently. Many trees remain virtually leafless, and some flowers have struggled with the yo-yoing of temperatures from spring-like warmth to near-freezing chill.
The Chicago Botanic Garden has taken to its blog to warn gardeners of “winter scorch,” brought on by sustained cold and heavy road salt use, which has browned many evergreens.
“In the case of the evergreens, it was the perfect storm,” said Boyce Tankersley, the Garden’s director of living plant documentation. “We had frozen soil that would not allow the roots to take up any water and winds blowing across the foliage, which acts like a wick that blows the moisture out of the leaves.”
Barring an unexpected temperature surge Wednesday, each of the last six months will have been colder than average, according to WGN-TV meteorologist Tom Skilling’s weather blog.
Despite a few nice days earlier in the month, Chicago this week has been shrouded in a chilly fog that feels like a colder version of Seattle. Temperatures have hovered mostly in the 40s and 50s with frequent drizzle, and all but the hardiest of residents have kept wearing their North Face jackets.
The National Weather Service is forecasting a high of 45 degrees Thursday. No May 1 has been cooler since Chicagoans endured a 44-degree day in 1940, according to weather data. The coldest recorded start to May was 38 degrees in 1909.
But amid the chill, there is good news. Though many of the last six months have been significantly below average, State Climatologist Jim Angel said that April was less than half a degree below normal.
Rodriguez said the upper-level low responsible for the latest bout of gloomy weather is unrelated to the polar vortex that left Chicago shivering through much of January and February. And though the first couple weeks of May aren’t expected to offer much relief, he said it remains possible that May will break the streak of months with below-normal temperatures.
Tankersley said the less-than-tropical weather has even had benefits at the Botanic Garden, where most bulbs and perennials made it through the winter unscathed and now the colder weather is keeping blooms on flowers longer.
“Our daffodils are in full bloom right now,” he said. “The magnolias and the cherries are in full bloom.
“The (glass) half-full side is, because the flowering cycles have been delayed, everything’s blooming at the same time.”
Peter Nickeas contributed.
mitsmith@tribune.com
The Chicago Botanic Garden has taken to its blog
to warn gardeners of “winter scorch,” brought on by sustained cold and heavy road salt use, which has browned many evergreens.“In the case of the evergreens, it was the perfect storm,” said Boyce Tankersley, the Garden’s director of living plant documentation. “We had frozen soil that would not allow the roots to take up any water and winds blowing across the foliage, which acts like a wick that blows the moisture out of the leaves.”
Barring an unexpected temperature surge Wednesday, each of the last six months will have been colder than average, according to WGN-TV meteorologist Tom Skilling’s weather blog.
Despite a few nice days earlier in the month, Chicago this week has been shrouded in a chilly fog that feels like a colder version of Seattle. Temperatures have hovered mostly in the 40s and 50s with frequent drizzle, and all but the hardiest of residents have kept wearing their North Face jackets.
The National Weather Service is forecasting a high of 45 degrees Thursday. No May 1 has been cooler since Chicagoans endured a 44-degree day in 1940, according to weather data
. The coldest recorded start to May was 38 degrees in 1909.But amid the chill, there is good news. Though many of the last six months have been significantly below average, State Climatologist Jim Angel said that April was less than half a degree below normal.
Rodriguez said the upper-level low responsible for the latest bout of gloomy weather is unrelated to the polar vortex that left Chicago shivering through much of January and February. And though the first couple weeks of May aren’t expected to offer much relief, he said it remains possible that May will break the streak of months with below-normal temperatures.
Tankersley said the less-than-tropical weather has even had benefits
at the Botanic Garden, where most bulbs and perennials made it through the winter unscathed and now the colder weather is keeping blooms on flowers longer.“Our daffodils are in full bloom right now,” he said. “The magnolias and the cherries are in full bloom.
“The (glass) half-full side is, because the flowering cycles have been delayed, everything’s blooming at the same time.”
Peter Nickeas contributed.
mitsmith@tribune.com
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