Climate averages 1991–2020
Chicago weather
in January.
A freezing month with moderate precipitation: the coolest and the 3rd driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
January is a freezing month in Chicago: daytime highs average -0.7°C and nights cool to about -7.4°C. By daytime temperature it is the coolest month of the year.
Expect about 62 mm of precipitation on roughly 9 days, which makes January a month with moderate precipitation (the 3rd driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 9 h 31 min on an average January day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Cicero (9 km away). In January its highs average -0.6°C, about as warm as Chicago, with 62 mm of precipitation.
Among the 498 cities listed in the United States, Chicago ranks joint 452nd of 498 for the warmest January highs and joint 175th of 498 for the driest January (precipitation, lowest first). The mean January high of those 498 cities is 9.5°C; Chicago is 10.2°C cooler than that mean.
From January to February, average highs rise by 1.7°C to 0.9°C, and monthly precipitation falls from 62 mm to 54 mm.
The annual picture
January in context
Monthly precipitation
Average total · mmAverages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated
Every month, side by side
Chicago climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Precipitation mm/month | Wet days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January, selected | -0.7°C-7.4°C | -7.4°C | 62 | 9.1 | 9.510 h |
| February | 0.9°C-6.5°C | -6.5°C | 54 | 7.6 | 10.611 h |
| March | 6.0°C-1.6°C | -1.6°C | 71 | 10.3 | 11.912 h |
| April | 12.3°C4.4°C | 4.4°C | 114 | 12.4 | 13.313 h |
| May | 18.7°C10.9°C | 10.9°C | 110 | 12.4 | 14.515 h |
| June | 24.6°C17.2°C | 17.2°C | 102 | 12.1 | 15.215 h |
| July | 27.3°C20.2°C | 20.2°C | 92 | 11.5 | 14.915 h |
| August | 26.4°C19.7°C | 19.7°C | 95 | 10.9 | 13.914 h |
| September | 22.7°C15.8°C | 15.8°C | 75 | 8.8 | 12.513 h |
| October | 15.9°C9.2°C | 9.2°C | 85 | 9.5 | 11.111 h |
| November | 8.4°C2.4°C | 2.4°C | 72 | 9.0 | 9.910 h |
| December | 2.2°C-3.5°C | -3.5°C | 61 | 8.7 | 9.29 h |
Precipitation (rain or snow, as water) is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A wet day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.
Compare places
January in nearby cities
- Cicero in JanuaryUnited States · 9 kmHigh -0.6°C · Low -7.8°C · 62 mm precipitation
- Evanston in JanuaryUnited States · 22 kmHigh -1.0°C · Low -7.0°C · 58 mm precipitation
- Hammond in JanuaryUnited States · 32 kmHigh -0.5°C · Low -7.2°C · 63 mm precipitation
- Arlington Heights in JanuaryUnited States · 38 kmHigh -1.1°C · Low -8.3°C · 53 mm precipitation
- Gary in JanuaryUnited States · 38 kmHigh -0.5°C · Low -6.8°C · 66 mm precipitation
- Bolingbrook in JanuaryUnited States · 39 kmHigh -0.7°C · Low -8.5°C · 54 mm precipitation
- Schaumburg in JanuaryUnited States · 41 kmHigh -1.1°C · Low -9.0°C · 53 mm precipitation
- Naperville in JanuaryUnited States · 42 kmHigh -0.8°C · Low -8.6°C · 54 mm precipitation
Read the numbers correctly
Climate, not a promise.
These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.
Sources, method and limitsHow these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Chicago) is explained once on the Chicago year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Cicero lies in the same rainfall cell, so its rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.