Is Chicago Getting Hotter?
Chicago has warmed 1.4 degrees since the 1900s, placing it in the middle tier of global cities for warming. The record spans 141 years and the trend is clear.
Unlike some cities where the warming is sharply back-loaded, Chicago's temperature rise has been fairly gradual across the full record.
Average Annual Temperature by Decade
Chicago's warming is close to the average across the 29 major cities in our global dataset.
Decade by Decade
| Decade | Avg Temp (C) | Change from 1900s |
|---|
How Chicago Compares Globally
Among the world's major cities, Chicago's warming rate places it around the middle of the pack. Here is how Chicago stacks up against other global cities.
Key Numbers
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About This Data
Temperature data on this page comes from the Global Historical Climatology Network version 4 (GHCN v4), maintained by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. GHCN v4 contains monthly mean temperature data for over 25,000 stations across the globe, with records dating back to the 18th century for some stations. The data has been quality-controlled and homogenised using the Pairwise Homogeneity Algorithm to remove artificial discontinuities from station moves, equipment changes, and observation practice changes.
Chicago's primary station is Chicago Wacker Drive, with records spanning 1893-2026. The "change" figures compare each decade's average to the 1900s baseline. Note that some of the warming in large cities is attributable to the urban heat island effect rather than regional climate change alone. The figures shown here include both components, as they represent what the city actually experiences.
NASA GISTEMP analysis, which processes GHCN v4 data, is a product of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. It is produced as a US Government work and is in the public domain.