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© CBSThe skies looked almost wintry in Chicago on Oct. 13, 2009, when temperatures topped out at 47 degrees for an 82-year low.
October in Chicago is usually equal parts balmy T-shirt weather and nippy light jacket temperatures, but if it's felt more like winter coat weather this year, it's not your imagination.

Chicago has spent the last 17 days with below-average temperatures, and a high of a mere 47 degrees made Tuesday the coldest Oct. 13 in 82 years, CBS 2's Mary Kay Kleist says.

Comparing temperatures for the first 14 days of October 2008 to this year seems like comparing the tropics to the tundra.

Last year, there were 10 days with highs in the 60s and three with highs in the 70s between Oct. 1 and 14. There was even a warm spell more befitting of early September - it was 72 degrees on Oct. 10, 79 on Oct. 11, 84 on Oct. 12, and 77 on Oct. 13.

But this year, there have been a mere four days with highs in the 60s, five with highs in the 50s, and five with highs in the 40s.

Kleist says the trend will continue through the upcoming weekend. While the normal high for this time of year is 64 degrees, the highs will top out only in the 40s on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and in the 50s on Saturday and Sunday. We may hit 60 degrees by Monday.

Cold though this October has been so far, at least there hasn't been any snow. A forecast for snow this past Sunday night turned out not to materialize.

But there have been many years where snow has fallen in October. The most recent was 2006, where 0.3 inches of snow fell on Oct. 12. But that was nothing compared with 1989, when Mother Nature dumped 3.8 inches of snow on the city on Oct. 18, and the whole month netted a total of 6.3 inches.