Today’s afternoon readings in the middle 80s mark the return of summery temperatures to the area, and the highest value since the city logged 90º on July 1. Computer models indicate this is merely the first in a multiday string of warmer days that will ultimately carry the city’s temperatures into the lower 90s. Humidity, too, creeps up this weekend and becomes oppressive by midweek.
Today marks the 326th anniversary of an often overlooked weather event that stands as a U.S. meteorological milestone: the occurrence of the nation’s first confirmed tornado. A tornado touched down during the early afternoon hours of July 8, 1680, in Cambridge, Mass. The twister was filled with “stones, bushes, boughs, and other things,” as reported in “Significant Tornadoes,” an authoritative text by noted weather historian Thomas P. Grazulis. The tornado snapped many trees, unroofed a barn and killed one person.
-- By Richard Koeneman, WGN-TV Weather Center Meteorologist
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
