July usually brings to mind images of “lazy, hazy days,” an adequate description for Chicago’s weather in upcoming days, but some major weather extremes have been July events. Chicago’s worst weather-related tragedy, the heat disaster of mid-July, 1995, claimed 700+ victims. On July 10, 1913, the temperature zoomed to 134º in Death Valley, Calif., establishing a U.S. heat record. Wisconsin’s all-time high, 114º, occurred at the Dells 70 years ago (July 13, 1936), and Indiana’s highest, 116º, was logged the next day (July 14, 1936) at Collegeville, 70 miles southeast of Chicago.
It’s summer here but July is the heart of winter at Vostok Station, Antarctica, which established a world record low: -129º on July 21, 1983.
In July, 1861, 366.14 inches of monsoon rain swamped Cherrapunji, India, setting a world one-month rainfall record that still stands (an amount ten times Chicago’s annual total).
-Richard Koeneman, WGN-TV Meteorologist
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
