Chicago, though acclaimed as a fabulous city with rich history and tourism gems, often bogs people down with unexpected thunderstorms, heavy wind, or rainfalls. You may have heard of or even experienced its variable and quirky weather, but do you know some hidden facts? Like the average temperatures in summer Chicago? Or when did the recorded lowest temperature hit Chicago? After reading this article, bet you will learn more weather skinny about this so-called Windy City!

Belonging to the continental climate zone, Chicago has quite typical and distinct seasons: humid and hot summers, bitterly cold and windy winters, mild, moderate yet short springs and falls. Throughout the year, the city gets 54% of all possible sunshine, on the same level with Green Bay and Milwaukee, but around 7.5% less than that of New York City.

On normal summer days, with comparatively high humidity and chance of precipitation, the temperature ranges between 78°F and 92°F, and drops to about 65°F to 70°F in midnight. In typical summer season, there are about 21 days when the temperature exceeds 90°F. Summer Chicago is fairly prone to severe weather like thunderstorms, but they are mostly short-lived hit-or-miss storms. Summer sees the wettest season for Chicago, with the average yearly precipitation of 35 inches.

Record Hottest Temperatures

• The highest unofficial temperature that was recorded in Chicago is 109°F, on July 24, 1934, at Midway Airport.
• The highest temperature recorded officially in Chicago history is 105°F, also on July 24, 1934, at Midway Airport.
• The warmest annual average temperature of 54.4°F happened in 1921 (the typical average annual temperature in Chicago is 49.4°F).

Record Precipitation or rainfalls

• The wettest year in Chicago with 49.5 inches of rain happened in 1983.
• The driest year that occurred to Chicago is 1962, with only 22.2 inches of rain.
• In 1965, August took the place of July as the wettest month in Chicago, even to today.

Winter in Chicago is prone to be icy cold, windy and fickle. Average temperature in January ranges from 29°F to 14°F. Throughout the entire winter season, there are roughly 15 days that the temperature stays below 0°F. An average Chicago winter can produce 38 inches of snow! About once every 3 years, Chicago will experience a large snowstorm which can produce at least10 inches of snow in 1 to 3 days. But usually the snow falls in small accumulations of about 2 inches.

Recorded Lowest Temperatures

• The coldest temperature on record that happened to Chicago is -27°F, on January 20, 1985.
• The lowest wind chill that was recorded in Chicago history is -82°F, occurring on December 24, 1983.
• The coldest year that happened in Chicago is 1875, with an average annual temperature of 45.1°F.

Snow Records

• The snowiest winter on record for Chicago is 1978 to 1979, with 89.7 inches of snow.
• The least snowiest year for Chicago is 1920 to 1921, with only 9.8 inches of snow.
• The biggest snowstorm in Chicago history happened on January 26 to 27, 1967.
• The most snow accumulation in 1 day recorded for Chicago is 18.6 inches, on January 2, 1999.
• The snowiest month in Chicago is January, 1918, with 42.8 inches of snow.

Though Chicago is well-known as the Windy City worldwide, it is, actually, not that significantly windier than other cities in the US. Its average wind speed ranges from 8 mph in late summer to 12 mph in typical spring days. Thus, it is widely believed that this phrase may be created by tourism boosters in Chicago, attempting to promote the city as an ideal summer destination with cool breeze from Lake Michigan.