Temperatures flirted with 80º Saturday but soared into the lower and middle 80s on a very summery Sunday. The 85º high at Midway Airport was the warmest there in nearly a month, since an 87º high on Aug. 23. Far southern areas were even warmer with Pontiac reaching 88º and Kankakee hitting 90º. Buoyed by the heating, the humid atmosphere spawned towering thunderstorms during the late afternoon that brought brief but heavy downpours. At Midway rainfall totaled 0.70” with 0.50” of it falling in a 15-minute cloudburst. September rainfall there is now approaching 4” after an August total of 7.12”. However, rainfall here was trivial compared to the 5.50” deluge that brought flooding to Miller in extreme southwest Missouri.
Warm weather will not be a factor here the rest of the week as chilly air will lower Chicago area daytime highs into the 50s Tuesday and Wednesday as fall makes its first real impact statement of the season.
--By Steve Kahn, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
