Saturday is to be pleasantly cool in Chicago, and cool weather is expected for a few more days. Temperatures are expected to rebound into the 80s by the latter half of next week, however, and there will be the possibility of thunderstorms by the end of this week.
The meteorological focus is on Hurricane Harvey, which increased in strength to Category 4 status Friday evening when its winds jumped to 130 mph as it makes way northwestward to the south Texas coast. Light and variable upper-level winds in the vicinity of the storm are expected to remain light for the next few days, suggesting the system will meander in south Texas at least through Monday. In addition to high winds, phenomenally great rain totals are expected. Thirty-five inches, perhaps more, are anticipated into Tuesday.
A computer forecast of 35 inches of rain is expected for Houston through Tuesday, and 25 to 40 inches is expected across portions of southern Texas. Rains of that magnitude are practically unheard of. The heaviest rain ever to fall in the United States is 43.00 inches in Tropical Storm Claudette in July 1979 at Alvin, Texas. Coincidentally, Alvin is located just south of Houston.
