Science & Nature
January 2026 Wasn’t One for the Weather Record Books, But It Had Some Wild Highs and Lows
(Eye Em Mobile GmbH / iStock)
Talk about weather whiplash. January 2026 was notable for two significant departures from temperature norms in Chicago — in opposite directions.
According to a monthly climate summary issued by the National Weather Service, January finished with an average temperature of 21.9 degrees, or 3.3 degrees below normal, as recorded at O’Hare Airport, the city’s official weather station.
Those numbers alone don’t provide a complete picture of the extremes Chicagoans experienced over the course of 31 days, with a balmy start giving way to a deep freeze, and scarcely any middle ground between. On Jan. 13, temperatures were nearly 18 degrees above normal, but just 10 days later, temps were 27.5 degrees below normal.
Snow totals are typically the January stat most folks expect to deliver the “wow” factor, but 2026 wasn’t particularly notable for snowfall. Chicago wound up with 11.3 inches, which is “exactly normal,” the weather service said.
The picture would have been very different if temperatures hadn’t been nearly 25 degrees above normal on Jan. 8, when 1.92 inches of rain were recorded. An inch of rain produces roughly 10-13 inches of snow.
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