Unseasonably warm temperatures Friday break 78-year-old record

SHARE Unseasonably warm temperatures Friday break 78-year-old record
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Chicago’s Lake Michigan waterfront. | AP photo

Unseasonably warm weather broke a 78-year-old record on Friday afternoon before cooler temperatures moved in during the evening.

The previous record high for March 24 was set at 79 degrees in 1939, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures also reached 79 degrees on the same date in 1910. Friday’s high temperature at O’Hare International Airport of 82 degrees surpassed the previous record about 1:05 p.m. and reached today’s high at 2:26 p.m.

Since 1873, temperatures on dates before March 24 have broken 80 degrees in only four years, the weather service announced on Twitter.

The warm spell ended Friday evening when cooler temperatures moved into the Chicago area, bringing scattered thunderstorms, the weather service said.

Showers are expected throughout the weekend with a slight chance of thunderstorms Saturday, the weather service said.

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