Chicago Will Be Colder Than Mount Everest, Antarctica, And Siberia On Wednesday
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Wednesday is looking like one of the coldest days ever on record in Chicago, with the high temperature expected to be 12 degrees below zero, which would be colder than some of the most frigid places on earth.
For example the South Pole is expected to reach a high temperature of 4 below zero on Wednesday. Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost point in the United States, located above the Arctic Circle, will be 7 below zero. Zackenberg Station, Greenland, which is also north of the Arctic Circle, will be 11 below.
While there is no weather station on the summit of Mount Everest, you would certainly expect even the base camp would be colder than Chicago, given it's at an elevation of more than 17,000 feet above sea level. No such luck. They're expecting a high of 30 on Wednesday.
Wednesday's temperatures in Chicago will be colder than some other notoriously frosty locations across the globe, from the capitals of all four Scandinavian nations, to parts of Siberia, to the Yukon:
• Zackenberg, Greenland: -11 degrees
• Barrow, Alaska: -7 degrees
• Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada: -5 degrees
• Old Crow, Yukon Territory, Canada degrees
• Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station: -4 degrees
• Upernavik, Greenland: -3 degrees
• Ottawa, Canada: 9 degrees
• Murmansk, Russia: 10 degrees
• Fairbanks, Alaska: 13 degrees
• Irktusk, Russia: 16 degrees
• Nome, Alaska: 20 degrees
• Oslo, Norway: 23 degrees
• Stockholm, Sweden: 24 degrees
• Reykjavik, Iceland: 25 degrees
• Mount Everest Base Camp, Khumjung, Nepal: 30 degrees
• Edmonton, Canada: 33 degrees
• Helsinki, Finland: 33 degrees
• Copenhagen, Denmark, 35 degrees
• Vladivostok: Russia: 37 degrees
A high of 12 below on Wednesday would be the coldest high temperature ever recorded in Chicago, beating out the 11 below zero seen twice before: on Jan. 18, 1994, and Dec. 24, 1983. Temperatures Wednesday night are expected to reach 20 below zero, which would be the lowest temperature ever recorded on Jan. 30 in Chicago. The record low for Jan. 30 in Chicago currently stands at 15 below zero, set in 1966.
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While the overnight low could reach 20 below zero Wednesday night, that's not the coldest it's ever been in Chicago. The record is 27 below zero, set on Jan. 20, 1985. In fact, Chicago has had at least 15 days when the temperature has hit 20 below or colder.
At least we'll have it better than the folks in Oymyakon, Russia, where it's expected to be 34 below zero on Wednesday.