The hum of air conditioners, dominant here for more than a week, faded dramatically Thursday afternoon with the arrival of an air mass bearing 44% the moisture of its humid predecessor and responsible for temperatures which “felt” 24-degrees cooler. Chicago’s Friday morning 60s are the area’s coolest readings of the past 10 days. The 2"+ deluge (2.03" at Midway Airport) responsible for the weather shift which lambasted the area Wednesday night into early Thursday, qualifies as the city’s heaviest 24 hour rain tally on the South Side since November 18, 2003.
Plunging temps aren’t limited to the Midwest. A mammoth 1,500 mile swath of the U.S., involving all or parts of 20 states, is in on the stunning weather change. The eastward-charging cool air will extinguish record highs like Thursday’s 101° at Washington, D.C., 100° at Central Park in New York City and 100° at Baltimore, Maryland.
-Tom Skilling
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
