I’m not from the area, so I’m unsure if there are severe micro-climates in or around Chicago. Maybe, even, you and your neighbor are acclimated to very cold weather conditions. It’s irrelevant either way, as we would all be better served by not conflating weather with climate, which OP’s post is also doing.
Because Chicago proper gets lake-effect cooling when the weather is warmer, and I was ~50 miles west of the lake, it was considerably warmer where I was.
Christmas Day in 1983 was a record low for Chicago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpT0vG56ADM
https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/il/chicago/KMDW/date/1983-12-25
I’m not from the area, so I’m unsure if there are severe micro-climates in or around Chicago. Maybe, even, you and your neighbor are acclimated to very cold weather conditions. It’s irrelevant either way, as we would all be better served by not conflating weather with climate, which OP’s post is also doing.
Oh! Maybe it was 1982? Been a lot of years.
Well that certainly would make more sense! I’m a cold weather person myself, but shorts in -5F is a bit much for me.
Because Chicago proper gets lake-effect cooling when the weather is warmer, and I was ~50 miles west of the lake, it was considerably warmer where I was.