Tuesday’s predicted 84° high here pales in comparison to the blistering, record breaking heat which baked sections of western Oklahoma and Texas, where stifling daytime highs topped out a record breaking 104° at Wichita Falls and 107° at Borger—both in Texas. Still, it’s likely to be Chicago’s warmest high in a week and marks the 11th time in 2006 the mercury has surged above 80°.
Humidities surge Tuesday—most noticeably this afternoon into tonight. South winds deliver Gulf moisture, expected to fuel a spell of showers and possible thunderstorms this morning—then to generate more potent storms to Chicago’s west later today. Those storms, should they hold together, reach the city in the greatest number Tuesday night.
Monday’s dry air contributed to a huge swing in the day’s temperatures—from a low of 48° at 5:07 a.m. to the day’s 81° high at 3:20 p.m.—a 33° spread.
-Tom Skilling
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
