Active, potentially severe, thunderstorms across the area diminish from Chicago northward today as warm, but drier and more stable air works in during the course of the afternoon. The severe threat shifts to areas well south and east of the city during the afternoon.
Elsewhere, heat continues to build across the nation, and only New England remains pleasantly cool. Across the West —already parched and hot—the heat is intensifying to blistering levels. Afternoon temperatures are forecast to rocket to 120-122º in the hottest desert areas of Arizona, California and Nevada, and that is intensely hot even for areas accustomed to very high temperatures. Compare those readings to these all-time heat records: 134º at Death Valley, California, on July 10, 1913 (U.S. record); 136º at El Azizia, Libya, on Sept. 13, 1922 (world record).
--By Richard Koeneman, 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.
