Chicago Records Coldest Valentine's Day In Half A Century; The Brunt Of Winter Is Likely Over – Hello Spring? Last week's Arctic blast was very noticeable in Chicago. Residents woke up to subzero temperatures on Valentine's Day, one of the coldest days in nearly five decades. O'Hare International Airport recorded minus 2 degrees on Feb 14, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The cold spell last Friday was one degree shy of minus 3 degrees recorded in 1943. Still 5 degrees from the coldest low ever recorded of minus 8 degrees in 1905. A look back at the love, or lack thereof, that Mother Nature has shown Chicago over the years on February 14. 💕 This includes this morning being the coldest Valentines temperature in the Windy City in 77 years! For more: https://t.co/vPy9fWASrM Happy Valentines Day!https://twitter.com/hashtag/ILwx?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); pic.twitter.com/ZJyQWcjF3Z — NWS Chicago (@NWSChicago) https://twitter.com/NWSChicago/status/1228309474869301248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); Minus 2 degrees was undoubtedly the coldest day in the city so far this year, considering much of North America has had a relatively mild 2019-20 winter season. The risk of another Arctic blast for the Midwest for the next 10-15 days appears to be low, and temperatures should recover. Midwest Heating degree day (HDD) trends will be elevated through the end of the month but are expected to decline into March, suggesting that the brunt of winter could be coming to a close. US-Lower 48 HDD also shows elevated reading through the end of the month with a drop off through March. And considering the US is the only country in the world that uses a groundhog to time cyclical trends in seasonal shifts – maybe this unorthodox way in weather prediction is right this year, as Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow several weeks ago, indicating that an early spring is coming. Tyler Durden Mon, 02/17/2020 - 18:40