Friday afternoon's predicted 80-degree temperatures over much of the metro area will mark the first time this week it's truly felt like summer. Many Chicagoans have openly voiced disappointment over the recent succession of lackluster daytime highs which have been more reminiscent of May than late June and early July. But increased sunshine Friday is to allow temperatures to surge. It's a move that finally returns temperatures here to seasonable levels.
Storm clouds loom Friday night into Saturday over sections of the Midwest. Thunderstorms that flared late Thursday over the Plains (with cloud heights towering as high as 57,000 feet and prompting a series of severe weather watches) are targeting sections of Iowa, Missouri, Downstate Illinois and Indiana.
A suite of computer projections has shifted these storms progressively farther north in recent days. Individual projections of potential Chicago rainfall late Friday night into Saturday varies widely across 15 models. The average of these forecasts calls for a total of 0.52 inches. A consensus of these forecasts places the axis of potentially heaviest rainfall across central Illinois and Indiana.
Much improved weather is due Sunday with sunshine allowing temperatures to surge back into the 80s in all immediate Lake Michigan shoreline locations where upper 70s are likely. Evidence that hot weather is preparing to stage a comeback later next week continues to mount. A dome of hot air is predicted to become established over the nation's mid-section by Thursday---a development which may well produce the Chicago area's next round of 90-degree temperatures. The heat could lead to increased rainfall. Rainfall estimates in the 1-2 week range here passed two inches in several computer projections, evidence a sporadically stormy "ring of fire" pattern could take shape, sending a succession of thunderstorm clusters running along the northern flank of the predicted dome of hot air across the Chicago area with some regularity.
Storm clouds loom Friday night into Saturday over sections of the Midwest. Thunderstorms that flared late Thursday over the Plains (with cloud heights towering as high as 57,000 feet and prompting a series of severe weather watches) are targeting sections of Iowa, Missouri, Downstate Illinois and Indiana.
A suite of computer projections has shifted these storms progressively farther north in recent days. Individual projections of potential Chicago rainfall late Friday night into Saturday varies widely across 15 models. The average of these forecasts calls for a total of 0.52 inches. A consensus of these forecasts places the axis of potentially heaviest rainfall across central Illinois and Indiana.
Much improved weather is due Sunday with sunshine allowing temperatures to surge back into the 80s in all immediate Lake Michigan shoreline locations where upper 70s are likely. Evidence that hot weather is preparing to stage a comeback later next week continues to mount. A dome of hot air is predicted to become established over the nation's mid-section by Thursday---a development which may well produce the Chicago area's next round of 90-degree temperatures. The heat could lead to increased rainfall. Rainfall estimates in the 1-2 week range here passed two inches in several computer projections, evidence a sporadically stormy "ring of fire" pattern could take shape, sending a succession of thunderstorm clusters running along the northern flank of the predicted dome of hot air across the Chicago area with some regularity.
