Fall Weather in Chicagoland

Another beautiful fall weekend for Chicagoland– a three-day holiday weekend if you’re lucky enough to have Monday off. It’s been a nice combination we’ve seen many times this autumn– summer-like temps but only fall-like humidity.

October started off quite warm– with several days in the 80s– and even a couple where our suburbs got into the low 90s. The temps took a turn towards cooler after some needed soaking rains on the 6th and 7th– but cooler but still around average high temps for this time of year.

Warm Days in October

Our scorecard of days of 80 and warmer was back on for several days last week– we’re now above average for these types of warm days. Most of our summer heat this year though were on muggy days when temps soared right through the 80s and into the 90s. That gave us more than our fair share of days of 90 or warmer. While we saw many days with heat index temps in the 100s– the actual air temperature never got into triple digits at O’Hare or Midway.

Historical Milestones

Historically, though while we can see some warmth in the fall and early winter months– we are past some historical milestones for latest in the year we’ve ever seen mid to low 90s here. But, mid to low 80s are possible through October and we can see low 70s into December.

Dry Fall Weather

We have been dry this fall. The beneficial rainfall on the 6th and 7th brought us for the month above our monthly averages to date. But when you factor in our nearly bone-dry September’s 30 days, we’re only at about half of expected rainfall.

Meteorological Fall

Meteorological fall, by the way, includes all of the months of September, October and November for easier record keeping. The dry fall weather is coming off parts of a dry summer– and our last winter which felt pretty absent of significant snowfall. And it is showing up in our Drought Monitor that comes out every Thursday from the US Dept. of Agriculture.

Drought Conditions

We’ve got all of Chicagoland in some form of drought– but only the western part of Cook County and the western suburbs are in what’s considered “moderate drought”. The dry weather can dull fall colors on the trees and cause premature leaf drop– so rooting for the limited rain showers this week can benefit the fall foliage even as trees go into dormancy. And many of our landscape plants and grass will want a good drink of water before the freeze arrives– it helps those plants survive the winter better.

Downstate areas have even worse drought conditions in both Illinois and Indiana.

Great Lakes Water Temps

Great Lakes water temps are slowly retreating. 65 degrees today on Chicago’s beaches. Water temps along the Chicago shore reached peak warmth in August when the lakefront water hit 77 degrees. That’s one degree warmer than all of last year. As of this weekend– the water temp along the Chicago shore is in the still swimmable upper 60s.

Lake Effect

And our warm-ish lake water has a big impact on our fall weather. Water hangs onto heat much more effectively than air does– so the lake will stay warm even when the air starts to get cold in late fall. That combination can make for some big lake effect snow later this year– and in the fall, it can bring lake effect showers in rain form too. And there’s no lake ice– at least not yet.

Snow Coverage

I can’t say the same about snow coverage. On this date last year we had 0.0% of the ground covered across the lower 48 states. Already some spots in the Rockies seeing some snowfall with a temp downturn there. 1.4% of snow on the ground for Sunday.

October Snow

October is technically one of our “snow season” months. But the average is only a trace of snow that doesn’t usually happen until the 30th. What we do lose a lot of in October is daylight. 81 minutes over the course of the 31-day period.

Upcoming Events

Things to mark on your calendar ahead in the coming weeks:

-Sunsets past 6p for only another week.

-The Orionid meteor showers peak on October 21st and 22nd. This is the dust from Halley’s comet that will be coming at us in the form of “shooting stars” in our night skies if you can get away from city lights and the cloud cover cooperates.

-We change our clocks back to standard time the Sunday after Halloween on the 2nd.

-Full Hunter Moon, which always follows the Harvest Moon– is on November 6th.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the fall weather in Chicagoland has been quite warm and dry, with some beneficial rainfall in early October. The dry weather has led to drought conditions in the area, but the limited rain showers