Chicago's second 90-degree day of the year is just days away. Just one 90-degree high
temperature is on the book this year -- rare for so late into the season. Only 13 of the
80 years since 1928, at Midway Airport, have had as few or fewer 90s by June 24. There
had been five by this time a year ago, which equals the long-term average. City
residents had experienced 18 by this date in the Dust Bowl year of 1934. The 90-degree
drought this year is unusual, considering the opening 23 days of June have averaged
70.4 degrees -- one of the 10 warmest such periods of the past half century, and 35th
warmest such period since 1871.
HUMID AIR'S ADVANCE TO IGNITE TUESDAY NIGHT THUNDERSTORMS
Clouds increase Tuesday ahead of waves of thunderstorms in coming days which
threaten to deposit 1 to 3 inches of rain. The jet stream is shifting well north of the
area in typical summer fashion. It's a set-up in which light upper air winds here allow
downpour-generating thunderstorms to move slowly, a formula for generating large
rain totals.
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune
