Cool, wet week to follow summery Sunday

Chicagoans enjoyed instant summer on Sunday as gusty south winds sent temperatures soaring into the lower 80s under bright sunshine. Readings approached or topped the 80º mark across the entire metropolitan area —including the lakefront where Northerly Island reached 81º.
Sunday’s warmth will be fleeting, however, as gathering storm clouds to the west herald the arrival of a cold front that will send temperatures tumbling, setting the stage for a blustery, cool and wet week dominated by brisk east winds. With ample moisture to feed the series of low pressure centers expected to traverse the Midwest the next several days, substantial amounts of rain could fall here this week, changing the dry nature of an April that to date has totaled only a little more than half of its normal rainfall.
Severe thunderstorms brought hail and gusty winds to southwest Iowa Sunday afternoon with quarter-size hail at Shenandoah and wind gusts to 58 m.p.h. at Atlantic.
--By Steve Kahn, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist