Today's readings in the middle 70s (8 degrees above normal) are easy enough to take in mid autumn -- but break out the ice cubes and fire up the air conditioner because real warmth arrives tomorrow, then grows even stronger on Friday and Saturday.
Before cooler air finally arrives early next week, Chicago's afternoon temperatures are forecast to climb above 80 degrees for four consecutive days. That won't challenge the October record (eight consecutive 80-degree-plus days, Oct. 15-22, 1953), but it's a feat that has occurred here only 12 times in 79 years.
Oct. 3 is an auspicious day in weather history. Bagdad, Calif., is a settlement just to the south of Death Valley. A little bit of rain fell at Bagdad on Oct. 2, 1912, and the 3rd was dry -- and thus began the longest totally rain-free period ever recorded in the United States. Absolutely no rain fell there for 767 days -- slightly over two years -- beginning on today's date in 1912.
--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.
