By Meteorologist Tom Skilling
Temperatures hit 100 degrees for a second straight day at Midway Airport Thursday. The last time that happened was 16 years ago during the deadly 1995 heat wave.
Sets of consecutive 100s aren't common here. A check of Chicago's 83 year weather record at Midway reveals back-to-back 100s have occurred in only 11 of the past 83 years at the South Side site.
100-degree or higher readings occurred Thursday at nearly two dozen sites across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana, among them Highland, IN (103-degrees), Lansing (102), Valparaiso, IN, (101) Burr Ridge (101), East Chicago (101) Frankfort (101), Elk Grove Village (101), Westchester (101), Oak Lawn (101), Blue Island (101), Flossmoor (101), Schererville, IN (100) and Chicago's lakefront (100). The area's highest heat index was 114-degrees in the Kankakee area.
Heat's easing here a bit--but it's not completely over; 29 states remain under advisories/warnings for excessive heat
Heat eases a bit Friday---but NOT completely! Chicagoans hoping to give their air conditioners a break are likely to find thermometer readings running only 10-degrees lower than on Thursday with humidities still high. Nearly 2.30 inches of evaporated water resides in the air over the city Friday, more than enough to produce storms.
Downstate, excessive heat continues----so does the incredibly humid air which has helped in forcing heat advisories and excessive heat warnings across sections of 29 states.
The East Coast's largest cities are headed for 100-degree temperatures
From Boston to New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, temperatures are headed to triple-digit levels Friday.
Humid atmosphere boosts prospects for thundery downpours; storms douse western Illinois with as much as 2 to 4 inches of rain in under 2 hours
Thunderstorms are to erupt on multiple occasions in coming days. These storms will move along an unseasonably strong band of jet stream winds oriented west to east across the metro area. While rain-free hours will not be in short supply this weekend, temperatures will return to the low 90s in the warmer hours of each day.
Rain's been in desperately short supply for well over a month; O'Hare's 0.94 inches makes it the 8th driest June 21 -July 21 period since 1928
The past 31 days have seen just 0.94 inches of rain fall at O'Hare. That's less than a third normal . The concern is that t-storm clusters, expected to swing across the Chicago area from time to time all weekend, could, on occasion, "train" over portions of the area. "Training" is the term used to describe the repetitive movement of down-pour generating thunderstorms over relatively narrow corridors.
A thunderstorm's rain-concentrating ability is well known. In this instance, with over 2 inches of water evaporated in the atmosphere and ready to fuel additional thunderstorm growth, there's concern the accumulation of rainfall from the thundery burst of precipitation could produce flooding despite the dry conditions which have preceded the rain. This is a situation which will be carefully monitored incoming days.
Temperatures hit 100 degrees for a second straight day at Midway Airport Thursday. The last time that happened was 16 years ago during the deadly 1995 heat wave.
Sets of consecutive 100s aren't common here. A check of Chicago's 83 year weather record at Midway reveals back-to-back 100s have occurred in only 11 of the past 83 years at the South Side site.
100-degree or higher readings occurred Thursday at nearly two dozen sites across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana, among them Highland, IN (103-degrees), Lansing (102), Valparaiso, IN, (101) Burr Ridge (101), East Chicago (101) Frankfort (101), Elk Grove Village (101), Westchester (101), Oak Lawn (101), Blue Island (101), Flossmoor (101), Schererville, IN (100) and Chicago's lakefront (100). The area's highest heat index was 114-degrees in the Kankakee area.
Heat's easing here a bit--but it's not completely over; 29 states remain under advisories/warnings for excessive heat
Heat eases a bit Friday---but NOT completely! Chicagoans hoping to give their air conditioners a break are likely to find thermometer readings running only 10-degrees lower than on Thursday with humidities still high. Nearly 2.30 inches of evaporated water resides in the air over the city Friday, more than enough to produce storms.
Downstate, excessive heat continues----so does the incredibly humid air which has helped in forcing heat advisories and excessive heat warnings across sections of 29 states.
The East Coast's largest cities are headed for 100-degree temperatures
From Boston to New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, temperatures are headed to triple-digit levels Friday.
Humid atmosphere boosts prospects for thundery downpours; storms douse western Illinois with as much as 2 to 4 inches of rain in under 2 hours
Thunderstorms are to erupt on multiple occasions in coming days. These storms will move along an unseasonably strong band of jet stream winds oriented west to east across the metro area. While rain-free hours will not be in short supply this weekend, temperatures will return to the low 90s in the warmer hours of each day.
Rain's been in desperately short supply for well over a month; O'Hare's 0.94 inches makes it the 8th driest June 21 -July 21 period since 1928
The past 31 days have seen just 0.94 inches of rain fall at O'Hare. That's less than a third normal . The concern is that t-storm clusters, expected to swing across the Chicago area from time to time all weekend, could, on occasion, "train" over portions of the area. "Training" is the term used to describe the repetitive movement of down-pour generating thunderstorms over relatively narrow corridors.
A thunderstorm's rain-concentrating ability is well known. In this instance, with over 2 inches of water evaporated in the atmosphere and ready to fuel additional thunderstorm growth, there's concern the accumulation of rainfall from the thundery burst of precipitation could produce flooding despite the dry conditions which have preceded the rain. This is a situation which will be carefully monitored incoming days.
