Dear Tom,
With summer approaching, I am reminded of the wickedly hot summer of 1988 here in Chicago. I had an apartment with no air-conditioning then and I suffered. How hot was it?
— Allen Katz
Dear Allen,
Hot, very hot — and dry. In addition to the heat, the spring and summer of 1988 brought severe drought conditions to the Midwest and much of the nation. That also was the summer during which wildfires raged across 36 percent of Yellowstone National Park.
Here in Chicago, the summer was a scorcher. Midway Airport logged 48 days at or above 90 degrees and eight days at or above 100. With an average temperature of 77.4 degrees, it was Chicago’s second hottest summer. The summer’s average high temperature, 87.8 degrees, is also a record. Without air-conditioning, there is no doubt that you suffered.
