After a sunny and warm Monday, the overnight hours will likely feature a blast of thunderstorms similar to those that raked the area early Sunday morning packing wind gusts to 50 m.p.h. and brief but heavy downpours. With searing triple-digit heat anchored from the southern Midwest to the Gulf Coast and a northwesterly jet stream across the upper Midwest, Chicago lies in a favorable path for repeat episodes of thunderstorms arriving from the northwest.
Weather across the Chicago area will remain unsettled through the week as a frontal system separating hot, steamy weather to the south from cooler, drier conditions on its northern flank wavers across the region. Meteorological setups like this favor the development of nocturnal thunderstorms in the Midwest.
The tropics are becoming active as mid-August approaches. In the Pacific, Hawaiians are nervously watching the approach of powerful Hurricane Flossie.
--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.
