Tuesday: Below normal temperatures despite first day of 100 percent sunshine in weeks

NOTE: This article has been turned into an almanac of Tuesday’s weather. We have published a new forecast/weather story for Wednesday.

It was an unseasonably cold start to the day Tuesday with numerous outlying areas beginning the day in the teens, a level nearly 20-degrees below normal for April 8^th. 

Daytime highs moderated slightly, but only reaching the lower to middle 40s, a level more typical of early March than early April. 

The abundant sunshine was a welcomed sight, as Tuesday logged 100% of the possible sunshine, the first time that has happened in nearly a month, since March 13. 

The Chicago area wasn’t alone in the early Spring chill. Tuesday early afternoon temperature snapshot and anomaly shows that even colder air relative to normal was present across the Ohio River Valley where readings were nearly 25-degrees below normal.

The United States just experienced its windiest start to spring in nearly a half century. It was the second gustiest March on record, only 1977 was windier. Michigan had its most blustery March ever while here in Illinois it was the 6^th windiest March on the books here.  That’s the word from Meteorologist Ben Noll from the Washington Post.    

How did March winds rank by state? Meteorologist Ben Noll of the Washington Post shared details by state:

The culprit behind the windier than normal conditions this spring?  Noll says that  persistent marine heat wave in the western Gulf may be enhancing temperature gradients, storm strength and wind gusts across the central and eastern states this spring. Will this trend continue April into May? Time will tell. 

Allergy counts are courtesy of Allergist Dr. Rachna Shah and Loyola Medicine. These counts will be provided each weekday through the end of September. 

Pollen count for Tuesday is unchanged. Tree pollen continues in the moderate range while mold spores are low. All other categories are absent.