Summer won't necessarily adopt spring's cool ways
Cool enough for ya?
Summer doesn't officially start for 10 more days, of course, but Chicago-area residents can usually log some pool or beach time before then. This year, though, things have been a little cool by the pool.
Weather experts say we can blame persistent rains and a relentless lake breeze for the lower temperatures. The good news? There's no indication the temperature downturn will last all summer.
Gurnee native Mike Caplan, weather anchor at ABC 7 News in Chicago, spoke to the Herald on Wednesday about our shivery spring.
Why so cool?
Caplan said Chicago's average daily temperature has been about 6 degrees below normal for the first nine days of June. Where we should be enjoying mid- to upper-70s weather on a consistent basis by now, the average temperature for the month so far has come in just under 70 degrees.
Caplan says two things are behind this. First, the amount of rainfall we've had; the moisture in the ground and air caused by heavy rains helps lock cloud cover into place, which makes it hard for the sun to do its warming and drying thing. Second, the area's been plagued by winds blowing in a clockwise direction over the area from the northeast.
"Those breezes go right over the lake, which takes even longer to warm up than the land," Caplan said. "That lake breeze situation really keeps us cool."
Warmer weekend
Looking ahead to the weekend, Caplan said that while no dramatic temperature shifts are on the horizon, it should be warmer. Forecasting models right now predict temps will fall in the 75- to 79-degree range, with partly cloudy skies. Temperatures could reach into the 80s by the end of next week, Caplan said.
Summer outlook
While cautioning that seasonal predictions are a tricky business, Caplan said he's seen no evidence that Chicago's summer will, on the whole, be cooler than usual.
"There's no strong signal out there that we're going to be locked into this pattern," he said, pointing out that temperatures across the country were slightly warmer than the average for the month of May.