Though a few showers and thunderstorms dampened parts of the Chicago area Friday,
severe weather and heavy rains plagued areas to the west, north and south of the city.
Nearly an inch and a half of rain inundated Burlington in southeast Wisconsin Friday
afternoon, most of it falling in just 25 minutes. Baseball-size hail pummeled Earlham,
Iowa, southwest of Des Moines, and in downstate Illinois, winds gusted to 80 m.p.h. at
Xenia, east of Salem.
It has been a rough week of severe weather across the nation: There have been more than
2,000 U.S. severe weather reports in 44 states since last Saturday.
All of the storms have a played a major role in Chicago's lack of hot weather so far this
summer. Only eight summers since 1928 have had fewer 90s at Midway Airport by this
date.
GREAT LAKES LEVELS ON THE RISE
Thanks to recent rainy weather across the Midwest, water levels in all of the Great Lakes
are higher than a year ago. Lake Michigan is up 6 inches in the last month.
--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.
