Heat has hit early and comparatively hard this year, a development which has often signaled enhanced prospects for more than the usual number of 90° days. Eight comparably hot years since 1928 have gone on to produce an average of 39 days of 90s—far more than the typical 24 which normally occur in the city.
While O’Hare Airport’s 96° high Friday missed the record by only a degree, the 98° high at Midway Airport brings to eight the number of 90s on the books in 2005. Friday’s scorcher was the hottest weather Chicagoans have experienced in three years. Only 176 days over the past 77 years have been as hot or hotter.
The area’s hottest readings on Friday included 98° at Wheeling, 99° at Kankakee and 100° at Remington, Ind.
The string of 90° highs predicted each day through Thursday would make this the first time since 1931 that the final week of June has produced 90s each day.
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
