Chicago to Evanston

Here I am in Chicago O'Hare Airport. Sitting inside the shuttle, with full suite and the overcoat given by my father-in-law. He bought this overcoat when he went to Australia with a team of Tamilnadu Electricity System engineers several years ago.

As I look outside the window, I see heavy snowfall and many ladies with a heavy fur coat. I say to myself: "These people are making a big fuss... It cannot be all that cold!" (See the partial Table below to realize how cold it was in Dec. 1976)

The bus reaches Hotel Orrington (at Orrington and Church Street) after about 45 minutes. I hire a cab. When I reach the YMCA (at Maple and Grove), I realize it was hardly a furlong from Orrington. As I get down and pay the cab driver, he asks "Do you have a dime?"

I have no idea what he is asking about and I throw a blank look at him. He says "Never mind." and drives away.
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The temperatures in the Table below are in Fahrenheits; The winter of 1976-1977 was the third coldest since 1873!

CHICAGO WINTER TEMPERATURE RANKINGS
WINTER (DECEMBER - FEBRUARY)

Seasonal Mean Temperature
Normal 25.5 degrees

***Smallest to Greatest Official Chicago Temperature Data from 1873 - 2006***


1903-1904 18.3 1893-1894 25.3 1929-1930 28.6
1978-1979 18.4 1963-1964 25.4 1974-1975 28.7
1976-1977 19.0 1899-1900 25.4 1933-1934 28.8
1892-1893 19.0 1945-1946 25.8 1926-1927 28.8
1977-1978 19.1 1883-1884 25.9 1948-1949 28.9
1962-1963 19.2 1980-1981 26.2 1937-1938 28.9

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1947-1948 24.8 1971-1972 28.2 1875-1876 33.6
1987-1988 24.9 1956-1957 28.3 1889-1890 34.6
2002-2003 25.0 1891-1892 28.4 1881-1882 35.1
1995-1996 25.2 1954-1955 28.5 1879-1880 35.2
1902-1903 25.2 2004-2005 28.6 1931-1932 35.7
1996-1997 25.3 1951-1952 28.6 1877-1878 37.2

Source: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lot/?n=CHI_winter_temps