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Weather extremes
How extreme does Chicago's weather get?
The hottest, coldest, wettest and snowiest days Chicago has recorded — the outer limits of what its weather can do, and how far they sit beyond a normal day.
The four kinds of extreme
The hottest, coldest, wettest and snowiest single days Chicago has recorded — each shown against what a normal day that time of year looks like.
That is about 24°F hotter than a normal July afternoon in Chicago (typical high near 81°F).
The three most extreme on record
About 41°F colder than a normal January night in Chicago (typical low near 20°F).
The three most extreme on record
How hot and cold it gets, month by month
The shaded band is the normal range of daily temperatures for each month. The dots show the most extreme it has ever been — so you can see how far beyond a normal day the records really sit.
Chicago's record heat sits well above even a hot day for the season — July's 105°F is about 24°F beyond a normal hot afternoon. Its record cold is just as far below a normal winter night — the dots mark how rare each extreme really is.
In plain terms
Methodology & sources
Temperature & precipitation — the official 1991–2020 climate normals from NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals, measured at Little Red School House (NOAA GHCN station USC00115110), about 25 km from the city centre.