The first break in the heat and humidity of the past three days rides into the city on northeast winds Friday.
The air's moisture content retreats from levels more typical of the Gulf of Mexico to those more more closely identified with the Midwest's North Woods region.
Thursday's 94-degree high was the third in as many days, making the three-day spell Chicago's hottest in nearly three years.Only two other occasions since temperature readings have been taken at O'Hare International Airport have highs as warm or warmer than those observed the past three days occurred this early in the summer.
State of the lake
Lake temperatures have warmed to 2009's warmest levels. Satellite estimates of Lake Michigan's average surface temperature now stand at 68 degrees. And the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported Thursday that lake water levels are 10 inches higher than a year ago.
Thursday evening threat fizzles under "nose" of powerful jet stream
Heat and humidity as high as Thursday's typically facilitate thunderstorm formation. But area residents caught a break Thursday. Thunderstorms to the city's north and west--including one with 62 m.p.h. gusts at Whitewater, Wisconsin, dissipated as they moved in Chicago's direction, once they encountered storm-extinguishing sinking air beneath the nose of a pocket of
powerful jet stream winds.
The air's moisture content retreats from levels more typical of the Gulf of Mexico to those more more closely identified with the Midwest's North Woods region.
Thursday's 94-degree high was the third in as many days, making the three-day spell Chicago's hottest in nearly three years.Only two other occasions since temperature readings have been taken at O'Hare International Airport have highs as warm or warmer than those observed the past three days occurred this early in the summer.
State of the lake
Lake temperatures have warmed to 2009's warmest levels. Satellite estimates of Lake Michigan's average surface temperature now stand at 68 degrees. And the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported Thursday that lake water levels are 10 inches higher than a year ago.
Thursday evening threat fizzles under "nose" of powerful jet stream
Heat and humidity as high as Thursday's typically facilitate thunderstorm formation. But area residents caught a break Thursday. Thunderstorms to the city's north and west--including one with 62 m.p.h. gusts at Whitewater, Wisconsin, dissipated as they moved in Chicago's direction, once they encountered storm-extinguishing sinking air beneath the nose of a pocket of
powerful jet stream winds.
