...and we had record cold this morning:
Around daybreak, the temperature at O'Hare International Airport dropped to -22°C, beating the record of -21°C for this date set in 1936. Winds from the northwest at 15-25 km/h made it feel like -30 to -35°C, and a wind chill advisory remained in effect until noon.
The coldest places this morning included -25°C in Aurora, Harvard and Island Lake, -24.4°C in DeKalb and -23.9°C in Mundelein, Union, Waukegan and West Chicago. Wind chills ranged from -33°C in Fox Lake and Wilmette to -36°C in DeKalb.
A brief return to normal this weekend (albeit with some snowfall) will precede another arctic blast next week. When meteorological spring begins on March 1st, we'll still be running 6°C below normal.
This is not helping my Fitbit numbers.
It's also worth noting that, on this day in 1847, rescuers reached the Donner Party. So it could be worse...