It’s official: Hottest Memorial Day record broken
May 28, 2012 10:44PM
Updated: May 29, 2012 1:09PM
Your backyard grill wasn’t the only thing heating up this holiday weekend. Monday’s high temperature hit a sizzling 95 degrees, making it the hottest Memorial Day ever recorded in Chicago.
Monday’s high temperature, recorded at O’Hare Airport, breaks the previous Memorial Day record, which was set at 93 degrees on May 30, 1942, and later tied in 1953, according to the National Weather Service.
Since Memorial Day falls on a different day each year, there is no average temperature for the holiday, but records show temperatures most often fall in the 70 to 79-degree range.
The steamy high also breaks the daily record for May 28, which previously stood at 93 degrees and was set in 1977.
It was the second day in a row that Chicago area residents sweated through record-breaking heat.
Sunday’s high temperature of 97 degrees not only broke the old record for May 27 but it was also the earliest recorded date that Chicago has seen a 97-degree day, according to the National Weather Service.
Our hot streak will likely end tonight, when thunderstorms usher in cooler temperatures in the mid-60s, forecasters said. Tuesday will be sunny and breezy, but not as hot, with high temperatures in the lower 80s.
