CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Last month was the warmest February ever recorded in the city of Chicago.
Kevin Doom, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, says the average official temperature last month in Chicago was 39.5 degrees, breaking the record average of 39 degrees set in February of 1882.
"We had a very powerful jet stream that was parked well up to our north, and a fast moving jet stream toward our north means it's going to reel a lot of warm air up from the south and park it over the midwest…That's why we saw the anomalously warm temperatures," Doom says.
Doom says another factor was El Niño , a warming of waters in the Pacific Ocean that can bring milder and drier winters to the Midwest.
He also says this winter is the warmest ever recorded at O'Hare Airport, Chicago's official weather station, with an average temperature of 34.9 degrees.
He notes, officially, Chicago has seen four warmer winters, but those were recorded when the official weather station was downtown and closer to Lake Michigan, which can boost winter temperatures.
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