Chicago's lakefront looked more like August than mid-October on Oct. 12, when O'Hare hit 87 degrees Fahrenheit and set a record high for that date.
The unusual warmth drew holiday crowds to the city's beaches, even as a much colder stretch remained forecast, according to CBS News.
Here's what to know
Temperatures at O'Hare International Airport reached 87 F on Oct. 12, surpassing the previous record for that date of 85 F set in 2008.
First Alert meteorologists suggested that the temperature could climb a little higher.
With Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day giving many residents the day off, plenty of people used the summer-like weather to spend time at the lakefront beaches.
Chicago police detective Danyelle Cochran was one of them, spending Oct. 12 as a boat captain before she and her coworkers were scheduled to return to duty Oct. 13.
TCD Picks » Quince Spotlight
💡These best-sellers from Quince deliver affordable, sustainable luxury for all
"I think this is it, so we have to enjoy," Cochran said of the weather.
More background
The spell continued through Oct. 13 before conditions turned cooler.
Wanting to get outside and "do something," Victoria Castillo took her daughter to 31st Street Beach, where they ended up playing frisbee.
Although the spate of mild fall weather provided opportunities for outdoor activities, the atypical warmth was part of a dangerous trend of extreme weather.
Worsening extreme weather disasters put lives and livelihoods at risk by bringing more intense heat and increasingly unpredictable conditions, along with superpowered storms, wildfires, and floods.
These kinds of extremes threaten public health, strain community safety systems, and add costs for households and cities when weather no longer behaves as expected.
What can be done?
The out-of-season heat changed how many Chicagoans spent the fall holiday, turning it into a beach day along the city's shoreline.
Eight-year-old Violeta Gonzalez also seemed struck by how unusual the October warmth felt.
"It's really warm in October," she told CBS News. "I'm confused, but I like it."
Where can I learn more?
Chicago's October heat was part of a broader run of unusual temperatures pushing past seasonal norms. Here are more stories on record temperatures in Texas, Australia, and New York.
• In Falcon Dam, Texas, dozens of cities shattered winter heat records far above normal.
• Across Australia, record October temperatures left officials warning that no relief was near.
• In Syracuse, heat records were set in a pattern seen only twice before.
Get TCD's free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.
