As Chicago faces its first heat wave of the summer, the National Weather Service extended its heat advisory until midnight Friday.
Thunderstorms and rain are likely to roll into the area by Thursday night, bringing cooler temperatures, according to meteorologist Ricky Castro with the National Weather Service in Chicago.
Heat waves are not uncommon for this time of year. But, after two weeks of below-average temperatures, this feels like a “sudden surge of heat,” Castro said.
“You can kind of think of it as baking under the heat dome for days on end,” he said.
Castro said it’s too early to tell how severe this weekend’s weather will be, but scattered thunderstorms seem likely.
Heat indices reached a maximum of 101 degrees at the weather service’s O’Hare International Airport observation site and 103 degrees at Midway Airport on Monday. Actual temperatures topped out at 90 and 93 degrees, respectively.
At the Joliet Regional Airport and the Illinois Valley Regional Airport in Peru, heat indices hit 108 degrees.
“It’s going to be relatively similar to that in the coming days,” Castro said.
Temperatures are expected to top out at 94 degrees on Tuesday and only dip to 78 degrees for a low. The weather service forecast a high of around 96 and a low of 80 for Wednesday.
Amid dangerously high temperatures, officials have been urging residents to stay hydrated, apply sunscreen regularly, remain in shaded areas or inside air-conditioned buildings and limit activities during the hottest part of the day.
The Chicago Department of Family and Support Services is operating cooling centers across the city this week. Park District, public library, police, senior center and City College locations are also open for residents to cool off during their hours of operation.
The following DFSS community cooling centers are open through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.:
- Auburn Gresham Center, 1140 W. 79th St.
- Martin Luther King Center, 4314 S. Cottage Grove Ave.
- North Area Center, 845 W. Wilson Ave.
- South Chicago Center, 8650 S. Commercial Ave.
- Trina Davila Center, 4312 W. North Ave.
The Garfield Community Service Center, 10 S. Kedzie Ave., will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day this week through Friday, which is a city holiday, according to a statement from DFSS. If the extreme heat persists into the weekend, the Garfield Center will also be open Saturday and Sunday. The city did not respond to questions Monday about whether any centers would remain open overnight.
Salvation Army locations across Illinois are also operating as cooling centers this week, including the Chicago Freedom Center at 825 N. Christiana Ave. (open 24 hours) and Chicago Temple at 1 N. Ogden Ave. (open Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.).
Last year, a Tribune analysis found gaps in the city’s cooling network, including the fact that in recent years, some of these spaces have closed during hot stretches around weekends and holidays, including the Juneteenth holiday last summer. Additionally, five of the community centers and all the senior centers were closed for a whole weekend during a heat wave in June 2025.
