Chicago in January
In January, Chicago has 50.5 mm (1.99 in) of rain, a daily high of -0.2 °C (31.6 °F) and a daily low of -7.3 °C (18.9 °F), as 1991-2020 means; figures in brackets are converted.
Last updated : what the month is like; shorter source notes.
Best time to visit Chicago: January misses our rule: days are 16.2 °C under our 16 °C and nights are 15.3 °C under our 8 °C. Expect days that grow by 49 min.
What January is like in Chicago
- Skaters glide along the curvy Skating Ribbon in Maggie Daley Park. The winding path of ice is twice as long as one lap of a normal rink. Source: Choose Chicago (official tourism site), checked .
- Sleds race down the sledding hill on the parkland around Soldier Field in winter. Its slope runs two hundred twenty feet. Source: Choose Chicago (official tourism site), checked .
- In early January, old holiday trees pile into recycling corrals at parks such as Lincoln Park. The trees are turned into free mulch. Source: City of Chicago, checked .
Key figures
Weather in January, 1991-2020 means
- Daily high
- -0.2 °C (31.6 °F)
- Daily low
- -7.3 °C (18.9 °F)
- Rain
- 50.5 mm (1.99 in) in the month
- Sunshine
- no data
U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, NOAA. Checked .
Measured at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, 28 km north-west of the city centre point.
How we define and convert these figures
Notes. Daily high and low: changed: source gives °F; converted to °C, rounded to 0.1. Rain: changed: source gives inches; converted to mm (x 25.4), rounded to 0.1. Sunshine: the NOAA U.S. monthly normals have no sunshine measure.
Daylight on 15 January 2026
- Sunrise
- 07:16 local time
- Sunset
- 16:45 local time
- Day length
- 9 h 29 min
Day length 1-31 January: 9 h 12 min to 10 h 01 min, +49 min.
Source: NOAA Solar Calculator equations, checked .
Month by month
Each month: daily high in °C, then rain in mm, 1991-2020 means.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, as above, checked .
This month against the year
| Measure | January | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Daily high | -0.2 °C | coldest |
| Daily low | -7.3 °C | coldest |
| Rain | 50.5 mm | 2nd driest |
| Sunshine | no data | no data |
| Day length | 9 h 29 min | 2nd shortest |
Equal values share a rank. How we rank months
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, as above, checked .
Day length: NOAA solar equations, checked .
Public holidays this month
| Date | Holiday |
|---|---|
| Thursday | New Year’s Day opm.gov |
| Monday | Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. opm.gov |
| Date | Holiday |
|---|---|
| Friday | New Year’s Day opm.gov |
| Monday | Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. opm.gov |
Typed from the official list and re-checked, .
Source: Official public holiday list (cms.illinois.gov), checked .
Same month in 20 cities
Chicago is the coolest of our 20 cities in January by mean daily high. How we rank cities
Closest high and low in January: Prague (3.9 °C apart), New York (4.7), Berlin (4.9, equal), Munich (4.9, equal), Vienna (4.9, equal).
| City | Gap from Chicago, °C | High, °C | Low, °C | Rain, mm | Sunshine, hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago (this page) | — | -0.2 | -7.3 | 50.5 | no data |
| Prague (closest) | 3.9 | 2.7 | -2.4 | 25.4 | 51.4 |
| New York (closest) | 4.7 | 4.2 | -2.3 | 92.5 | no data |
| Berlin (closest) | 4.9 | 3.6 | -1.4 | 47.7 | 51.1 |
| Munich (closest) | 4.9 | 4.0 | -1.8 | 51.9 | 74.6 |
| Vienna (closest) | 4.9 | 3.5 | -1.3 | 42.1 | 70.2 |
| Amsterdam | 7.5 | 6.2 | 1.2 | 66.5 | 69.0 |
| Paris | 9.2 | 7.6 | 3.2 | 47.6 | 59.0 |
| Tokyo | 9.3 | 9.8 | 1.2 | 59.7 | 192.6 |
| Hiroshima | 9.7 | 9.9 | 2.0 | 46.2 | 138.6 |
| London | 9.8 | 8.6 | 3.5 | 58.1 | no data |
| Osaka | 10.1 | 9.7 | 3.0 | 47.0 | 146.5 |
| Madrid | 10.4 | 10.2 | 3.0 | 32.0 | no data |
| Rome | 11.5 | 12.0 | 3.4 | no data | no data |
| Barcelona | 14.0 | 14.2 | 6.2 | 42.6 | 119.9 |
| Seville | 14.9 | 16.2 | 6.1 | 56.3 | 202.0 |
| Los Angeles | 18.5 | 20.0 | 9.4 | 83.6 | no data |
| Hong Kong | 20.4 | 18.7 | 14.6 | 33.2 | 145.8 |
| Buenos Aires | 28.9 | 30.1 | 20.2 | 134.4 | 272.7 |
| Singapore | 31.2 | 30.6 | 24.3 | 221.6 | no data |
Sources (1991-2020): WMO climate normals and NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, checked , ; Hong Kong: our 1991-2020 mean of the Hong Kong Observatory daily climate series on DATA.GOV.HK; Singapore: our 1991-2020 mean of the National Environment Agency monthly climate series on data.gov.sg; both checked . Each city's page names its station. All sources in full on Methodology.
Hong Kong figures: The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Hong Kong Observatory own the intellectual property rights in the data; attribution to them and DATA.GOV.HK. Licence: Terms and Conditions of Use of DATA.GOV.HK, version 1.2.
Singapore figures: Contains information from the National Environment Agency on data.gov.sg, made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0 (https://data.gov.sg/open-data-licence). The Agency does not endorse our means.
Sources
- Attribution: Palecki, Michael; Durre, Imke; Applequist, Scott; Arguez, Anthony; Lawrimore, Jay (2021). U.S. Climate Normals 2020: U.S. Monthly Climate Normals (1991-2020). Station files named in each record. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.25921/wck8-er13. Accessed on the check date shown. Licence: No licence stated; citation requested. Checked .
- NOAA Solar Calculator equations, computed locally, NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory (method); City by Month (computation). Attribution: Computed with the NOAA Solar Calculator method (no NOAA endorsement implied). Licence: Method, not data. Checked .
Official sources
Cite this page: City by Month. "Chicago in January: weather, daylight, holidays". https://citybymonth.com/cities/united-states/chicago/january/. Last updated 5 November 2026.