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Chicago to see record-breaking warm day after warm Christmas

CHICAGO (AP) - Record-breaking warmth has hit the Chicago area, but weather experts said it won't last long.

Temperatures were predicted in the 60s by afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. However, meteorologists said the temperatures were likely to drop back into the 30s by evening.

The last record for Dec. 26 was 55 degrees in 1971, which was surpassed after midnight at the city's official recording site at O'Hare International Airport, meteorologist Mark Ratzer told The Chicago Tribune.

The spring-like day follows near-record breaking Christmas Day warmth.

Weather officials said the high in Chicago Wednesday was 57 degrees. The record for Christmas in Chicago is 64, set in 1982. That was the highest since records started being kept in the mid-1800s.

By contrast, the lowest temperature recorded on Christmas Day in Chicago is -17 degrees, which happened in 1983.

Other parts of Illinois saw warm holiday weather too. Springfield reached 64 degrees Wednesday, breaking the 1982 record of 62 degrees, according to The State Journal-Register.

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