For a fourth consecutive day, Chicago’s high temperature failed to reach 70° Monday. The official high of 69° at both O’Hare and Midway fell far short of the 80° afternoon readings considered typical. In only three other years have four consecutive sub-70° highs occurred in mid-June since 1928. In terms of daytime temperatures, the 65.7° average reading since Friday is the coolest June 9-12 period here in the past 78 years.
Tropical Storm Alberto’s encounter with the loop current, an exceptionally warm body of water which flows out of the warm, comparatively shallow Caribbean into the central Gulf of Mexico, produced a surge in intensity Monday—as happened last season when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita surged to top-intensity “Category 5’s” as they passed over the energy-infusing warm water. Thunderstorms blossomed within the poorly organized system and winds increased to 70 m.p.h.
-Tom Skilling
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
