The official high temperature at O'Hare missed 70 by just a degree Thursday. It's 31
years since the opening nine days of October have failed to produce a single 70. It's a
string likely to be broken away from Lake Michigan Friday. Though southeast winds off
Lake Michigan are likely to temper lakeside highs, the warmest inland readings should
reach the mid-70s, thanks to an abundance of sun. A series of three additional 70s are
likely to ensue this weekend through Columbus Day, producing the area's longest
70-degree streak this late in the season in eight years. Friday's predicted 72-degree
high is to be the mildest in 13 days.
A powerful storm is pounding the West. Snows may accumulate more than a foot in the
hardest hit locations of Wyoming and Montana while 1-3 inches of rains in sections of
the Dakotas would be the equivalent of two Octobers worth of rain.
HAIL POUNDS SOUTHEAST THURSDAY: CALIFORNIANS WARY OF POWERFUL
WINDS, WILDFIRE THREAT
Nearly 20 reports of hail peppered sections of Georgia, Florida Thursday, including
baseball-size hail at Rochelle, Ga. which damaged automobiles.
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune
