Temperatures surge above 80° a second day Thursday and could move to within striking distance of 90° Friday afternoon when an 88° high is predicted. Chicago’s last 90°+ temperature was the blistering 97° high recorded on Aug. 2. Weather records reveal that while a majority of the city’s 80s have occurred by this date, 12% of Chicago’s annual 80s occur between now and Nov. 1.
A bit of compressional warming Friday afternoon is behind expectations of unseasonable upper 80° highs—readings 12° warmer than normal for the date. As southwest winds ahead of an incoming cold front converge with the northeast winds behind it, the convergence process compresses/warms the air.
Isolated thunderstorms may flare in the area with daytime heating Thursday afternoon. The handful of t-storms which bubbled into existence Wednesday along a lake breeze front produced 1” hail west of Milwaukee in Waukesha County.
-Tom Skilling
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
