Latest First Autumn Freeze on Record for Rockford; One of the Latest for Chicago

Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Chicago IL
151 AM CST Sat Nov 12 2016 /251 AM EST Sat Nov 12 2016/

...Rockford Sets Record for Latest First Autumn Freeze...

Just prior to midnight on Friday evening November 11, the
official temperature at Rockford had dropped to 32 degrees. This
was the first freezing temperature of the autumn season and is the
latest first freeze on record (dating back to 1905). It breaks the
old record of November 4, 1973 by an entire week. The normal first
freeze for Rockford is October 8.

The length of time between the last spring freeze and the first
autumn freeze, sometimes referred to as the growing season, was
technically not a record in 2016 for Rockford. This was because
the last spring freeze on May 15 was late compared to the normal
of April 28. However, the low on May 15 was only 31 degrees and
it was the only subfreezing low after April 12 and likely did not
have an impact on most agriculture. Had April 12 been the final
freeze, the 213 days between last and first freeze would have been
a record topping the 203 days in 1973. This year`s growing season
length for Rockford will officially go down as 179 days. The
normal is 162 days.

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MTF