Ideal weather days in Chicago
The best time to visit Chicago for warm, dry weather is May and July to September, with 17 to 21 such days a month.
How many days here suit you?
Set your ideal day. Each day measured at Chicago's weather station in 2023–2025 is checked against it.
They're most common in May and July to September.
This station doesn't record cloud cover, so the sky setting is left out here.
Open the full map Zoom with ctrl or ⌘ and scroll.Move and zoom with two fingers.
Your ideal days in Chicago, month by month
Why the other days don't count
- Too cold167
- Too wet88
- Too windy68
- Too hot18
A day can fail more than one test.
Warm and dry, beach and mild days
With the Warm & dry preset (a high of 18–33 °C, no more than 1 mm of rain, wind under 20 km/h), Chicago averaged 120 days a year in 2023–2025. Every number here is counted from real measured days in the United States, not from climate averages.
Beach days (a high of 26–35 °C, almost no rain, mostly sunny) are most common in June, August and September (up to 11 a month, 50 a year). Mild, still days (16–26 °C, light wind) are most common in September and October (up to 7 a month, 27 a year).
What spoils the other days
Most of the days that don't count are too cold (a high under 18 °C): 167 a year, mostly in November to March. Another 88 are wet (more than 1 mm of rain), mostly in March to July and December to January. A day can fail more than one test.
Chicago weather, month by month
| Month | Typical high | Rain days | Windy days | Clear days | Warm & dry days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2 °C 36 °F | 8 | 10 | 4 | 0 of 31 |
| February | 7 °C 44 °F | 5 | 8 | 10 | 1 of 28 |
| March | 11 °C 52 °F | 12 | 13 | 8 | 2 of 31 |
| April | 18 °C 64 °F | 12 | 9 | 9 | 7 of 30 |
| May | 24 °C 74 °F | 9 | 4 | 8 | 19 of 31 |
| June | 30 °C 86 °F | 8 | 5 | 7 | 16 of 30 |
| July | 30 °C 85 °F | 11 | 0 | 5 | 17 of 31 |
| August | 29 °C 84 °F | 6 | 2 | 6 | 20 of 31 |
| September | 26 °C 78 °F | 7 | 2 | 11 | 21 of 30 |
| October | 20 °C 68 °F | 10 | 5 | 11 | 16 of 31 |
| November | 13 °C 55 °F | 6 | 5 | 8 | 4 of 30 |
| December | 6 °C 43 °F | 8 | 5 | 4 | 0 of 31 |
| Year | 101 | 68 | 90 | 120 of 365 |
Typical high is the median daily maximum. A rain day has 1 mm or more; a windy day a mean wind above 20 km/h; a clear day a daytime cloud cover of 2/8 or less on average (9:00–17:00). Days are averaged over 2023–2025 and scaled to the length of each month.
Year by year
- 2023 126 warm, dry days
- 2024 124 warm, dry days
- 2025 incomplete (8 of 12 months)
Questions
When is the best time to visit Chicago for good weather?
The best time to visit Chicago for warm, dry weather is May and July to September, with 17 to 21 such days a month. Beach days (a high of 26–35 °C, almost no rain, mostly sunny) are most common in June, August and September (up to 11 a month, 50 a year). Counted from measured days at Chicago Midway Airport station, 2023–2025.
Does it rain a lot in Chicago?
On average 101 days a year had 1 mm of rain or more in 2023–2025. The wettest month was March (12 rain days), the driest February (5).
How many sunny days does Chicago get a year?
About 90 days a year had mostly clear skies (daytime cloud cover of 2/8 or less on average, 9:00–17:00), most of them in September (11).
How warm does Chicago get?
The median daily high ranged from 2 °C (36 °F) in January to 30 °C (86 °F) in June.
Nearby
- Detroit380 km131 days
- St. Louis420 km143 days
- Minneapolis570 km120 days
- Nashville640 km150 days
- Kansas City660 km135 days
More cities in the United States
- San Diego 317 days
- Tijuana 311 days
- Los Angeles 296 days
- Honolulu 224 days
- Orlando 203 days
- Tampa 194 days
- Miami 181 days
- Charlotte 177 days
- Sacramento 169 days
- Atlanta 168 days
- Phoenix 166 days
- San Francisco 162 days
- San Antonio 157 days
- Denver 151 days
- New Orleans 144 days
- Seattle 142 days
- Houston 141 days
- Austin 134 days
- Albuquerque 132 days
- Dallas 129 days
- New York 129 days
- Las Vegas 126 days
- Boise 117 days
- Billings 116 days
- Boston 116 days
- Salt Lake City 107 days
- Fairbanks 81 days
- Anchorage 55 days
- Juneau 45 days
Where is the best climate in the United States?
Open Chicago on the map Set your own temperature, rain and wind limits.
Source: Chicago Midway Airport weather station (72534014819), 15 km from the centre of Chicago, 186 m above sea level. Daily records from NOAA's Global Surface Summary of the Day, 2023–2025; 89% of days have a complete record. A single station may not represent every part of a city, and three years is a short record.