|
|
Staff report2:06 p.m. CDT, August 4, 2012
A line of thunderstorms bearing down on the Chicago-area from the west has resulted in the National Weather Service issuing a severe thunderstom watch.
The watch is in effect until 8 p.m. tonight for every county in northeastern Illinois, including Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will. The storms are presently on the Illinois-Iowa border and are headed northeast at about 40 m.p.h. Those storms include heavy rain, high winds and lightning.
The storms, which included wind gusts as high as 80 m.p.h. as they passed through the upper plains Friday, should hit Rockford around 3 p.m. and are expected to arrive in the Chicago area in late afternoon.
Chicago-area temperatures are expected to peak in the mid-to-low 90s before those thunderstorms cool things off tonight. Combined with higher humidity, the temperatures will make being outside uncomfortable, with a heat index approaching 105.
By late afternoon, the temperatures will begin to fall quickly and thunderstorms, some of them potentially severe, will start to spread across the region.
It'll take until after midnight for the storms to move out of the area, and Sunday looks like a beautiful day, with some clouds and temperatures in the mid-80s.
Friday's 90-degree temperatures made it the 38[SUP]th[/SUP] day this year with temperatures that high; the record is 47, set in 1988, according to the National Weather Service. Friday also was the 39[SUP]th[/SUP] straight day with a high in the 80s or warmer, according to agency figures; that’s the third longest ever behind 46 days in 2010 and 42 in 1955.
There’s a good chance both of those records fall this summer – we’ve just entered August.
[email protected]
Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking
