A handful of small thunderstorms developed away from Lake Michigan Wednesday afternoon—and a few isolated storms may swipe locations west and south of the city again Thursday. The brief rains they produce fall far short of relieving this area’s drought. Besides affecting less than 10% of the area, these thunderstorms are fleeting—here one moment and gone the next. The downpours they produce are brief and highly localized. Prospects for an extended round of heat begin this weekend, suggesting the current dry pattern has legs and is likely to get worse as the mercury rises.
The weather is anything but dry in the South and Northeast.
Boston, chilled by NE winds off the Atlantic Wednesday evening, was drenched by more than 2" of rain. And, Tropical Storm Cindy’s remnants whipped New Orleans with 70 m.p.h. gusts spawning at least seven twisters in Alabama.
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
