Temperatures surge to the mid 90s Friday afternoon—the hottest of 2005 and potentially the highest reading here since Aug. 25, 2003. It’s the type of hot summer weather which completely bypassed the area and much of the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. last year. Daytime readings in the mid 90s (or higher) are rare here. Of the 1,827 daytime 90° and higher temperatures logged since records began at Midway Airport in 1928, only 19 percent (or 352 of them) have reached or exceeded 96°. If cloud development Friday remains limited, a few locations may register readings within striking distance of 100°. That’s something which hasn’t occurred at the city’s official observation sites in nearly six years—since 101° at O’Hare and 104° at Midway on July 30, 1999.
Intense heat gripped the Plains Wednesday, including a record-breaking 99° high at Billings, Mont. Other highs included 98° at Storm Lake, Iowa, 99° at Buffalo, S.D. and 101° at Imperial, Neb.

Temperatures reached 90° at Midway Airport Tuesday for the sixth time this year. That’s hardly a record—but it is ahead of the typical pace of four 90s which have occurred by now since 1928. The 2005 tally pales in comparison to the 15 which had been logged through June 22 during the infamously hot year of 1988—a year which was to wind up with 48 readings 90° or higher at Midway and the 47 at O’Hare, the area’s all-time record. Only one 90°+ had occurred here by this time a year ago.
A windshift to the northeast which accompanied Tuesday’s late day cold frontal passage has set the stage for Wednesday’s more comfortable weather.
Stifling heat, the hottest at a number of locations in nearly two years, baked the Southwest Tuesday. Readings hit 117° at Needles, Calif., 116° at Gila Bend and 114° at Phoenix—both in Arizona.
-Tom Skilling