While 90° high temperatures are expected the first three days of the week in Chicago, Hurricane Ophelia feints movement toward the mainland off the Carolina coast, threatening copious rains over portions of the southeast U.S. And the drought continues over northeast Illinois, with the best and maybe only good chance of showers in the Chicago area occurring ahead of a cold front Tuesday night and early Wednesday. It is hard to get rain in the middle of a drought, and the possibility of a significant rain (an inch or more) with this system is fairly slim—so the extreme drought will likely persist for the foreseeable future.
Because of the drought and the minimal number of strong low pressure systems, severe weather has been reduced over northeast Illinois this summer. However, history says about a fifth of the severe weather season remains, so whenever a vigorous low pressure system surges through this fall, there will still be a threat of severe storms and tornadoes.
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
