The final weekend of Meteorological Summer, 2005—which began June 1—is likely to end as the season began—warm. Not only are 30 daytime 90s on the books to date at Midway Airport and 22 at O’Hare (compared to just three last year), but 76% of days over the three month period have been warmer than normal. The season ranks 10th warmest of the 135 on record here since 1871. The 74.8° average is 3.2° above the long term average of 71.6°.
Hurricane Katrina’s downpours aren’t the only ones dousing sections of the U.S. Portions of Kansas have been walloped in the past two days by more than 6” of rain, continuing a trend which has dominated the summer there. Chanute recorded 6.42” of rain while Emporia was hit by 4.16”.
Any sunlight here Friday will aid in daytime heating. With higher humidities in place, some heavy t-storms threaten late in the day or Friday night.
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
