February is usually too perfect for the ice rink in downtown Chicago's Millennium Park, a favorite winter stop for tourists and local families who stand in the shadow of the reflective sculpture known as “Bean.”
On Tuesday morning, the rink was melting.
Under intense sun and air temperatures reaching 70 degrees, water slowly dripped from the empty rink, soaking the surrounding concrete. Little birds splashed happily in the puddles of water. The box office is abandoned and appears to be closed for the day.
Chicago's winter — or lack thereof — reached its alarming peak Tuesday, when the city came close to breaking its 48-year-old record for high temperatures.
But forecasters said this mild bout will not last. They noted that mild conditions in Chicago and around the Midwest this week were tough, not only because of the warmth but also for what comes next.
This will likely include temperatures dropping into the 20s, strong northwesterly winds of up to 40 mph, and potentially dangerous storm surge, including tornadoes.
Still, on most Tuesdays, Chicago felt like summer: apartment windows opened to welcome the warm breeze. Restaurants are setting up tables and chairs on sidewalks for outdoor lunch service, a rare sight in February in Chicago.
The lakefront was bustling with runners, cyclists and couples strolling side by side.
“We were expecting it to be very cold,” said Ana Marshall, 41, a doctor from Cádiz, Spain, who arrived in Chicago on Monday to spend a vacation with her husband, Rolf Hartmann.
They considered spending their vacation indoors, by shopping, visiting museums or attending Blackhawks and Bulls games.
Instead, they found themselves walking on the beach, looking happy and a little confused. They stopped to take a selfie on the shores of Lake Michigan, which is usually icy and off-limits this time of year.
“How beautiful,” said Mr. Hartmann. “It looks like the sea.”
“It's colder in Spain than here,” Dr. Marshall said.
Others found the weather ominous.
Shailaja Chandrashekararao, a social worker who moved to Chicago from India last year, had just finished a 10-kilometer run downtown. She said she would have liked to keep running.
“It was very hot,” Ms. Chandrashekararao said, pulling up the sleeve of her orange sweatshirt.
Climate change has made Indian summers unbearable and dangerously harsh, making Chicago a weather haven, she said. But the city's mild winter, on the heels of the warmest year on record in 2023, seemed strange and unpredictable.
“I don't enjoy this,” she said. “It's pretty crazy, actually.”
Temperatures are also rising across the Midwest, partly due to human-caused climate change, according to the 2023 National Climate Assessment, the first government compilation of scientific knowledge about the greenhouse effect of human activity. The report also noted that rising temperatures pose a major economic risk to the region.
June-like temperatures will be one factor producing severe thunderstorms in the Chicago area Tuesday evening and overnight. Forecasters said some of the storms could produce tornadoes, and the area will likely stretch from Missouri through southern Illinois and northern Indiana into Michigan. Tornadoes that occur after dark can be more dangerous because many people are asleep.
However, the main threat from the storm system will be hail, possibly including hailstones as large or larger than chicken eggs.
Unusually high temperatures across the Great Plains, coupled with high winds, sparked wildfires in Nebraska and Kansas, which were still a threat Tuesday after forcing evacuations this week. Wildfires were also burning across the Texas Panhandle.
From Tuesday to Wednesday in Chicago, the temperature could drop by about 60 degrees, according to David King, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“It's amazing,” he said, noting that the last time the city saw such a rapid drop in temperature was in the 1990s. “It's just a tough time for weather here in Chicago.”
The normal daytime high in Chicago at this time of year is around 40 degrees. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, only 4.3% of the surface of the Great Lakes is covered by ice, which is well below average.
The unusually warm and dry winter affected tourism in the region, especially in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, where snow-dependent industries suffered. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced last week that several northern Wisconsin businesses — ski slopes, restaurants and snowmobiling tours, for example — may be eligible for a federal disaster loan program if they suffer losses due to the mild winter.
Charles Jones, who manages maintenance for an apartment building in downtown Chicago, said Tuesday's mild day was already familiar.
Mr Jones spent his holiday standing outside in short sleeves, while people walked their dogs in the sunshine. He said he had lived in Chicago all his life and was accustomed to the city's harsh winters. But it was hard to remember the last winter when the cold had been really brutal—“Maybe a few years ago,” he shrugged.
Mr Jones said this winter had been much like the previous ones, without as much snow or as many cold and icy days. In the past few months, he said, he has only had to salt the sidewalk twice.
“But I don’t trust this weather,” he said. “You know we're going to get a little snow before winter's over. It's Chicago. It could get to 70 and then jump to 30.”
Judson Jones Contributed to reports.
