Wednesday brought coolest daytime temperatures in more than 6 months

NOTE: This article is now an almanac of Wednesday’s weather. We have published a new forecast story for Thursday.

It was a chilly, gray and blustery day across the Chicagoland area.

Not a single ray of sunshine was reported by veteran Chicago weather observer, Frank Wachowski. As a result, temperatures did not move much from the morning low of 46 to the afternoon high of 50 degrees.

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The last time the Chicago area had an afternoon high this chilly was back on April 10 when the mercury on peaked at 43 degrees.   

Blustery northwest winds, which passed 30 mph at times, enhanced the late October chill and made it feel like the middle 30s to low 40s much of the day.  

Wednesday U.S. highs and departure from normal

Persistent cloud coverage and a strong northwesterly flow out of Canada kept highs well below normal across the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley with highs generally in the upper 40s to low 50s, levels nearly 10-degrees below normal. 

Milder air took hold across the Plains where 60s and even a few 70s occurred.