Sixty-one degrees in Honolulu?

Record low or not, Honolulu won't get any sympathy from Jerry Taft, meteorologist for Chicago's No. 1-rated television news station, ABC affiliate WLS-TV.

Chicago was hit with snow flurries yesterday. And Taft forecast a chilly 21-degree evening last night.

So he's not impressed at all that Honolulu was expected to tie a record low temperature of 61 degrees tonight and tomorrow.

Weak stuff, Taft said.

With high temperatures — highs, mind you — in the mid-30s for Chicago over the next few days, Taft said, "You're not going to get a lot of sympathy at 61."

Things could definitely be worse, Taft said.

Yesterday he reported that Michigan's Upper Peninsula region had a foot of snow.

Taft repeated it again as if he hadn't heard it right.

"Sixty-one degrees," he said in mock disgust. "Like I said, you're not going to get a lot of sympathy out of me."

But for Hawai'i residents, 61 degrees is downright cold.

Robert Kent of Wahiawa has been shuttering his windows at night, and, he joked, "pulling up that extra blanket and getting an extra woman."

The past few mornings, Kent has been waking up to a hot shower and two to three cups of coffee to warm himself.

Tonyja Newbold of Hooper, Utah, was happy to drink in the warm Hawai'i day yesterday across from Ala Moana Park.

She and her sister, Cheryl Newbold, left behind snow-filled Utah mountains on Tuesday to join family members from Idaho in Hawai'i.

Together, they were all loving Hawai'i's weather.

"This is so warm," Newbold said. "Cold? Come to Utah. You don't know cold."

But Hawai'i residents like Sally Tanji are waiting for the night-time cold snap to end.

Like others in Wahiawa Heights, Tanji actually has a fireplace but hasn't had to fire it up — yet.

But the temperatures at night have definitely gotten colder, Tanji said.

"We're just bundling up," she said.

The 61 degrees predicted by forecaster Jonathan Hoag would tie the record lows for April 5 that were measured at Honolulu Airport in 1966 and again in 1973. The low temperatures of 61 degrees for April 6 were recorded in 1966 and 1985 at the airport.

The all-time record low temperature for any day at the airport was 53 degrees in January 1972 and 1998 and again in February 1976 and 1981, Hoag said.

For those keeping score, the all-time high temperature of 95 degrees was set at the airport in September 1994.

The spell of chilly nights has been triggered by the lack of forceful trade winds, Hoag said.

"When the winds are light and the skies are clear," he said, "the air near the surface is allowed to cool to a greater amount than otherwise. That's when you'll see dew form on the upper surfaces of cars and other objects."

Daytime temperatures are forecast to be in the mid- to high-70s today and tomorrow.

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.