Sorry, I couldn’t resist, especially since we talked about Global Warming on Meet The New Press today  (DCE of Weekend Pundit was a guest on the show – we will revisit this again!)….and I am going to Chicago in a couple of weeks:

Intense chill of coming week threatens to eclipse Feb. 3-9 cold spell 112 years ago

Chicago is headed into a deep freeze likely to take on, if not surpass, a series of long-time late-winter cold weather benchmarks. An average of each day’s temperatures over the coming 7 days may well finish colder than any Feb. 3-9 period on record since 1871 here. Highs in the single digits through Monday would place this month in league with only three others which have produced three or more consecutive single-digit February daytime highs. Further underscoring this cold spell’s intensity, the 0(degrees) high predicted Sunday would tie the 1918 record cold daytime maximum for Feb. 4. As if that’s not enough, the four consecutive official subzero Chicago lows which begin Saturday night would eclipse the three below-zero readings on the books in the last 10 Februarys. The current cold spell is already cutting into this winter’s rank as one of the city’s mildest on the books. Friday’s chill slashed winter 2006-07 another seven slots–from 20th to 27th mildest. Temperatures here rebound slowly beginning Tuesday. Though significantly higher next Friday, readings will remain below normal.

Sources: NOAA-NCEP, National Weather Service-Chicago

(H/T: Chicago Tribune)