CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Icicles can form during bright, sunny, but subfreezing weather, when ice or snow is melted by sunlight or some other heat source (such as a poorly insulated building), and refreezes as it drips off under exposed conditions.

Frozen Wrigleyville by Paul Sager, on Flickr


The temperature at O’Hare International Airport, the Chicago's official recording site, reached 33F at 11:51 AM, Sunday Feb 21, 2021. This reading was the first time the temperature reached above 32F after 17 consecutive days of below freezing conditions. That's 400 consecutive hours below freezing.

Frozen Wrigleyville


Chicago’s coldest temperature was recorded on Jan 20, 1985, at -27F. The city's record number of consecutive days below freezing is 43 days set between Dec 28, 1976 until Feb 8, 1977.

Frozen Wrigleyville


This set of images were captured in RAW using an EOS 5DIII and EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM. The files were processed in Adobe Lightroom 6 with an HDR effect from Topaz Adjust.

Frozen Wrigleyville


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Irvingite Charles Loc: Irving, Tx

buckbrush Loc: Texas then Southwest Oregon

[quote=CHG_CANON]Icicles can form during bright, sunny, but subfreezing weather, when ice or snow is melted by sunlight or some other heat source (such as a poorly insulated building), and refreezes as it drips off under exposed conditions.

Beautiful pictures Paul.
Brings back some not to pleasant memories of Mt. Prospect, IL. in the 50s where we kids broke off icicles from the roof of our uninsulated house in the country. Boy, those icicles can be heavy, and darn dangerous!

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Wow!!! Great work presenting the icy situation.
--Bob

joehel2 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

Great set, Paul. In photo 2, I think you may have Guinness book icicle length record contender. 😊

Paul O Loc: Fairhope, AL

The “Hawk” visited the Windy City.

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

anotherview Loc: California

Interesting weather phenomenon. Pictures show it graphically.

tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

Those are a real danger when hanging from large buildings.
I've walked down Michigan Ave. when they had saw horses to prevent you from getting in the kill zone of the icicles.
Think about the weight hanging off of those gutters..
Nice shots.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Thank you Irvingite Charles, buckbrush, Bob, Joe, Paul, Gary, anotherview, tradio! We had a two story 'colonial' in Michigan for a while when I was growing up. I remember icicles running from that second story to the ground at least one of those winters. Stay warm. Spring is almost here.

junglejim1949 Loc: Sacramento,CA

Brrrr, nice set Paul

Lakeman Loc: Cornelius, NC

Paul, Thanks for reminding us how cold it can get in Chicago. I was visiting family on 1/20/1985. When I went to my van in the morning the doors were frozen shut and one tire was flat. Great memories and as usual, your pictures are outstanding. Norm

DAN Phillips Loc: Graysville, GA

I was attending Worsham college during '76 & '77. One Tuesday I went to the Brookfield Zoo, the temp was -21. I went to take pictures of the polar bears, they were having a ball. If I remember correctly only three people had checked in that day. Me being one of them. I would take a few pictures and go back into the shelter house. I did this repeatedly. What a great time!

randave2001 Loc: Richmond

Nice images Paul.

I can remember walking along Michigan Ave near the Tribune Tower in the winter of '75 and an icicle bigger than a man cracked off. It sounded like a mortar round going off and taught me not to walk near the tall buildings when the icicles are forming.

JRiepe Loc: Southern Illinois

Some very nice shots. When I lived in the Chicago area I would knock the icicles down so the weight of them wouldn't pull the gutters down. It was 61 degrees in southern Illinois yesterday.