For the last seven years, George Pousen and his family have left steamy Miami in mid-August to visit relatives in Chicago.
And each year, they remember spending most of their vacation not out and about but poolside in Lincoln Park, trying to escape the heat they thought they had left behind in Miami.
So the picture-perfect days this month–which included high temperatures Thursday and Friday in the low to mid-70s–sent them on a sight-seeing tour to rival that of any first-time Chicago visitor.
“Usually, it’s so hot you can’t even think,” said Pousen as he prepared to take a cruise down the Chicago River after checking out the Water Tower and other Michigan Avenue sites. “This year it’s been nice enough to go outside and enjoy yourself.”
Indeed, this summer has been one of the most comfortable in recent memory. August has been particularly enjoyable, with only three days where temperatures broke 90. On most days, temperatures hovered in the 70s.
Art Kessler, a forecaster for the National Weather Service, summed up the sentiments of many. “The temperature, it’s been perfect,” he said. “It’s been a terrific summer.”
But believe it or not, experts said this is how summer is supposed to be.
“This is going to turn out to be an unbelievably normal summer,” said Dennis Haller, another forecaster with the National Weather Service. “If you can describe a typical summer in Chicago, this would be it.”
While the average daily temperature for the entire summer–considered to be June, July and August–won’t be calculated until next week, temperatures are only slightly below normal, Haller said.
After this weekend–when the mercury is expected to rise to the mid-80s–temperatures will be right on target, he said.
The atmospheric idyll will probably be interrupted Saturday, as forecasters expect thunderstorms to move across the state. The rain may linger until Saturday night.
But the rest of the holiday weekend should be a continuation of the type of weather that has spoiled many Chicago-area residents this summer: relatively warm and dry.
Most people lacking instant access to charts of dew points and heat indexes would describe a typical summer in Chicago as hotter than the hinges of Hades. They only have to look at two summers in the last 10 for proof.
In 1995, the mercury broke 90 degrees 30 times, including 9 times in August. During the drought of 1988, temperatures surpassed 90 degrees 44 times, and 100 degrees seven times.
Those were two of the hottest summers since meteorologists began keeping track 125 years ago.
Compare that to this summer, when there have been only 13 days of 90-degree or hotter weather–and no 100-degree days. Last year was similar: Temperatures exceeded 90 degrees on 10 days and never reached 100.
Not everyone has warmed up entirely to this cool summer.
“It’s been good, but I wish it was warmer,” said Karen Fish, a 32-year-old mother of three from Mundelein. “We hardly got to swim or go to the beach as much as we would have liked.”
Still, it would have been hard to convince any of those out Thursday and Friday that these are normal summer days in Chicago.
If it isn’t much cooler than normal, at least it’s cooler than anyone can remember.
“Might as well take advantage of it while it’s here,” said a shirtless sun-bather in Grant Park named Tom, who didn’t want his last name used. “You never know when it’s going to get hot and muggy and miserable.”
Kevin Trimborn, a plumber from Oak Park, spent his lunch break on the banks of the Chicago River. “I’m not used to this,” said Trimborn, 41. “Usually we sit inside with the air conditioner on high.”
The main reason for the nice temperatures this summer, experts said, is a strong upper jet stream coming from the Northwest.
That has brought in cooler, drier air from Canada and kept out the hotter, more humid air from the Gulf of Mexico, they said. “This year the northwesterly flow dominated,” Kessler said.
In addition, there have been few prolonged hot spells. Only twice did the heat index, which factors in humidity along with the temperature, post two straight days at 100 degrees or more.
“Every time it looked like it was going to get hot, you could always see the next cold front coming down the pike,” Haller said.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office reported 20 heat-related deaths in June and July, but none this month. That is well below the more than 700 heat-related deaths in 1995 but higher than the 15 recorded last year.
The moderate temperatures might be better for residents’ health in other ways too.
Lloyd Nichols, who runs a produce stand at the Farmers Market in Prudential Plaza, noticed a marked increase in business this summer.
“No one wants to buy vegetables when it’s 104 degrees outside. And no one wants to even think about cooking,” said Nichols, who operates Nichols Farm and Orchard. “But when the weather is pleasant, people are pleasant and they want to buy vegetables and they want to cook.”
If the nice weather did boost the city’s morale, then perhaps Mother Nature was in good spirits too.
As Trimborn said, “I guess the gods are happy, so let’s enjoy it while we can.”
But, he warned, it won’t be long before the gods turn on us once again.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” he said, “but winter will be here soon.”
