The area’s most prolonged hot spell looms. Clouds, clusters of thunderstorms and winds off Lake Michigan, while unlikely to temper the muggy “feel” of the air Friday, are likely to hold most area temperatures just shy of 90°. Temperatures are to take off in Saturday’s unlimited sunshine. Mid 90s are likely in all but immediate lakeshore areas by afternoon—readings Sunday and Monday may flirt with 100°. The heat marks the beginning of seven consecutive days of 90s—2006’s longest to date. Lake breezes Saturday and Tuesday limit daytime highs a bit but have minimal impact on temperatures. That’s because lake waters are warming. Great Lakes water temperatures Thursday reached the highest levels of the year. Though 1° cooler than a year ago, Lake Michigan’s satellite observed 68° average Thursday (Chicago’s shoreline reading was 73° near Navy Pier) and is more than 30°above early March levels.
-Tom Skilling-WGN-TV Meteorologist
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
