GOT A QUESTION FOR TOM? Ask him here!

Dear Tom,
I am a freak for weather records. Do you think there is any Chicago weather record that will never be surpassed?
Frank Whell, Rockford

Dear Frank,
No, I do not. Every Chicago weather record will eventually be broken by a more extreme weather event.

Some all-time extremes that have been established within the memory of many readers of this column include Chicago’s lowest temperature (-27 degrees on January 20, 1985), its heaviest rain (9.35 inches of August 13-14, 1987), the heaviest snowstorm (23.0 inches on January 26-27, 1967) and lowest wind-chill temperature (-57 degrees on December 24, 1983). Wind-chill is not actually a true weather variable because it is derived from air temperature and wind speed. That derivation formula was changed in 2001 and the old record (-82 degrees on December 24, 1983) became -57 degrees.

Chicago weather historian Frank Wachowski, when questioned about old weather records ever being broken, commented that it’s not a matter of if, but when, new records will be established.