The return of hot weather is in sight. In a meteorological summer (which began June 1) already ranked the hottest since records began in 1928 at Midway Airport and the hottest of any of the 47 on the books at O’Hare since 1958, news of more heat is likely to play to mixed reviews. Temperatures in the Plains surged back into the 90s Thursday after only two days of 80s. That region had broiled for weeks in dangerous triple-digit heat before the midweek break. This new round of heating is to produce another huge dome of hot air which will sprawl from the Rockies across the Midwest by Sunday. It’s a development which shunts thunderstorm-organizing jet stream winds north to the Canadian border area and portends two weeks of paltry rainfall. (Note: Local thunderstorms can produce downpours of substance, but general coverage rainfalls similar to last Tuesday are rare this time of year.) The next two weeks may host 0.40″-0.80″ in Chicago if Thursday computer forecasts verify–only a fraction of the 1.99″ considered normal for the 14 days ahead.
Sources: Various National Weather Service forecast offices, NOAA-NCEP various supercomputer forecast models
WGN-TV/Kevin Newman
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
