Chicago was chilly this spring, but June didn’t set a new record

Although Chicago might have seemed unusually cold and rainy this spring, the past month’s weather was more or less in line with a typical June. There were some instances of 60-degree temperatures setting new lows for daily highs, but it wasn’t enough for June to break any records as a whole.

“It was chilly, but close to normal,” says Lee Carlaw, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Chicago. “It warmed up nicely toward the end of June, which offset the cooler weather we experienced earlier on.”

Based on the data collected by the NWS, Chicago’s mean average temperature for June—which averages the high and low each day and then averages those numbers across the entire month—came to 67.8 degrees. The figure was only slightly below June’s 30-year norm of 68.9 degrees. The coldest June on record, with an average temp of 61.2 degrees, took place in 1903.

It is, however, worth noting that the temps are collected a near O’Hare Airport and can often vary from the colder—and foggier—weather experienced along the lakeshore. “It’s only a handful of miles, but the difference can be substantial,” adds Carlaw.

While May was super wet with 21 days of rain and record-setting 8.25 inches of precipitation, Carlaw says June was pretty standard when it came to rainfall.

Looking ahead to the Fourth of July holiday, things are looking warmer but not much drier. The NWS forecasts hot and humid conditions with thunderstorms possible. Chicagoans heading downtown to catch the Navy Pier fireworks might want to consider umbrellas and rain gear.