Weather conditions challenged Chicago's Air & Water Show a year ago, but promise
nothing but clear sailing for the popular event that expands to three days this year.
More than an inch of rain fell on the show's second day in 2007 -- a remnant of
Tropical Storm Erin that had come ashore earlier in the week on the Texas Gulf Coast.
But sprawling high pressure will hold rain at bay this year. Friday's northeast winds will
be replaced by lighter onshore (easterly) breezes Saturday and a light west-to-
southwest flow Sunday. Temperatures warm by day to the 80s in an August running
5.3-degrees cooler than a year ago.
Several isolated but active thunderstorms swiped the Chicago area Thursday. Hardest
hit were northwest Indiana and Chicago's southwest suburbs. Schererville, Ind.,
topped area rainfall totals with .39 inch.
There's growing concern a westbound tropical system may be headed for hurricane
status in the days ahead. The system, in its infancy and churning west just north of
Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Friday, moves over energy-rich 86-degree waters
known to fuel storm intensification.
WEST BROILS WHILE PATTERN SHIFT PROMISES WARMER, MUGGIER WEATHER
HERE IN AUGUST'S FINAL WEEKS
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune
