It really was that hot.
Wednesday’s heat wave broke a 28-year-old Chicago record when temperatures climbed to 96 degrees at O’Hare International Airport.
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The National Weather Service recorded the high mark around 4:30 p.m. The previous record, a 95-degree high set in 1994, was also captured at O’Hare, where the city’s official temperatures are recorded.
“Almost every site that we keep track of, I think they all broke the records,” meteorologist Brian Leatherwood said. The temperature got to 100 degrees at Midway Airport, he added.
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Intense humidity made it feel even hotter across Chicagoland. Heat indexes — the way the body feels the temperature — climbed to 104 in Joliet and 106 in Henry County. Indexes stayed in the upper 90s in downtown Chicago, Leatherwood said.
The record high isn’t that unusual and isn’t part of any obvious trend, he said.
“We’ve really had a fairly cool summer,” Leatherwood said. The climate should cool down this weekend.
The cold front that brought Wednesday night’s thunderstorm will also drop temperatures into the low 90s Thursday. And with less humidity, it will actually feel like the recorded temperature.
[ Chicago preps for 105-degree ‘feels-like’ temp as heat wave looms ]
The Chicago-area will see the sun this weekend, with highs in the mid-80s on Friday and upper-70s on Saturday. Temperatures will be lower by the lake, Leatherwood said.
“We’ll have plenty of sunshine, it’s going to be nice and cool,” he said.
Sunny skies and high temperatures in the mid-80s are expected Sunday as Chicago celebrates Juneteenth.
Leatherwood said people should not forget the sunblock.
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“Sometimes when we’ve been stuck indoors because of the heat, we just get too excited and forget that we still have to protect ourselves,” he said.
If this clement weekend doesn’t get you to put on sun balm, next week might. The city could see another round of hot weather then, Leatherwood said, with increased humidity and temperatures potentially returning heat indexes above 100 degrees.
