Chicago ties record temperature set in 1886 with high of 56 degrees Friday

Chicago’s high temperature on Friday reached 56 degrees, tying a record for Feb. 9 that has stood for 138 years.

The average temperature for Feb. 9 is 34 degrees, said Brett Borchardt, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Last year’s high was 42 degrees.

The record high was set on Feb. 9, 1886.

Borchardt said in the past 30 years the climatological average has trended upward — in part, due to climate change. Even then, the stretch of warm weather Chicago has seen at the start of February is “pretty unusual,” he said.

“In fact, we’re gonna have to wait until the day is closed to get official numbers but this could have been the warmest start to February on record,” Borchardt said.

But this spring-like stretch is coming to a close, despite the prediction of an early spring from famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil. Friday is the last day with temperatures in the 50s, Borchardt said. Saturday’s high temperatures will be in the 40s, the high temperatures will slide to the mid-30s by the end of next week, he said.

So folks should enjoy this “fool’s spring” — which, Borchardt points out, is not a scientific term — while it lasts.

“Sometimes people like to joke around that we get this warm stretch and then reality sets in and winter comes back,” he said.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times