Storms headed this way---but Friday has a shot at becoming July's warmest first
An impressive thunderstorm outbreak looms Friday night. The potential for severe weather will have to be monitored. But it's Friday's warm-up which is front and center as the day dawns.Never in the 81 years of weather observations at Midway Airport have Chicagoans found themselves 24 days into the month of July without a reading above 86-degrees on the books. Never, that is, until this summer. But with daytime heating and the healthy assist of strengthening southwest winds, Friday temperatures have a respectable shot at surging past that reading and reaching 88-degrees. The extent of cloudiness filtering the day's sunlight will play an important role in determining just how daytime temperatures go. An 88-degree high would be the city's warmest in the four weeks since June 27 when an 89-degree reading occurred.
Thunderstorms exploded to life in Thursday's unstable atmosphere and doused the evening rush hour over sections of the metro area. Wauconda was hit with 1.67 inches of rain in 20 minutes. Other totals included 1.48 inches at Resurrection High School's Weather Bug rain gauge in Chicago, 1.35 at Harwood Heights where 40 m.p.h. thunderstorms gusts delivered the rain, and 1.26 at Des Plaines and Forest Park. The downpours were selective. No rain was recorded at O'Hare.
The evolving pattern the next 2 weeks is looking wet; regular t-storms could bring 2 to 5-inch totals.
An impressive thunderstorm outbreak looms Friday night. The potential for severe weather will have to be monitored. But it's Friday's warm-up which is front and center as the day dawns.Never in the 81 years of weather observations at Midway Airport have Chicagoans found themselves 24 days into the month of July without a reading above 86-degrees on the books. Never, that is, until this summer. But with daytime heating and the healthy assist of strengthening southwest winds, Friday temperatures have a respectable shot at surging past that reading and reaching 88-degrees. The extent of cloudiness filtering the day's sunlight will play an important role in determining just how daytime temperatures go. An 88-degree high would be the city's warmest in the four weeks since June 27 when an 89-degree reading occurred.
Thunderstorms exploded to life in Thursday's unstable atmosphere and doused the evening rush hour over sections of the metro area. Wauconda was hit with 1.67 inches of rain in 20 minutes. Other totals included 1.48 inches at Resurrection High School's Weather Bug rain gauge in Chicago, 1.35 at Harwood Heights where 40 m.p.h. thunderstorms gusts delivered the rain, and 1.26 at Des Plaines and Forest Park. The downpours were selective. No rain was recorded at O'Hare.
The evolving pattern the next 2 weeks is looking wet; regular t-storms could bring 2 to 5-inch totals.
