As August draws to a close, late-season warmth is taking up residence in the Chicago
area and should stick around at least through midweek. With the Central U.S. weather
system slowed to a crawl as two powerhouse tropical systems, Gustav and Hanna,
approach the U.S. mainland, persistent high pressure will bring warm and increasingly
hazy and humid weather to the city. Readings should climb to the middle and upper 80s
through midweek. If the mercury reaches 89 degrees Monday, it would mark the city's
warmest Labor Day since 1983, when the high reached a sizzling 95 degrees.
KILLER GUSTAV BATTERS CUBA, GULF COAST NEXT
Packing sustained winds of 150 m.p.h., Hurricane Gustav, already responsible for more
than 80 deaths in the Caribbean, slammed western Cuba, including the capital city of
Havana, Saturday afternoon. As the storm prepared to enter the Gulf of Mexico,
hurricane watches were posted from just east of Houston to the Alabama-Florida
border in anticipation of a Labor Day landfall. Wind gusts to nearly 60 m.p.h. were
recorded in the Florida Keys Saturday afternoon as Gustav's outer bands swept through
the area.
--Steve Kahn, Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune
