The most comfortable weather and lowest humidities in almost a week greet Chicagoans Wednesday. The change follows another wild afternoon of thunderstorms over parts of the metro area Tuesday. An eastbound squall line, which included t-storms with radar-scanned cloud tops that reached 55,000 ft. into the atmosphere, unleashed temperature-slashing 60 m.p.h. winds in west suburban Sugar Grove and parts of the city. Damage, including downed trees and power lines in Franklin Park, bore the markings of a possible microburst. The storms’ lightning was dramatic. Up to 1,700 cloud-to-ground strokes occurred Tuesday afternoon within a 225-mile radius of Chicago.
The heat won’t be missed. Warmer than normal temperatures since June 1 have boosted air conditioning usage 54% over the same period a year ago.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist
