On the first day of summer Monday, Chicago-area residents experienced two weather milestones.
The thermometer at O`Hare International Airport read 104 degrees at 4:26 p.m., the second-hottest temperature ever recorded in Chicago. And it rained for the first time in nearly a month.
The rain that fell over much of the area Monday night was accompanied in some areas by high winds and much thunder and lightning. It was the first precipitation of any significance since May 23, exactly four weeks ago, and it may provide some relief for parched lawns and gardens.
The Central Weather Service said more hot, humid weather is expected Tuesday with temperatures in the high 90s. There also is a possibility of showers Tuesday or Wednesday.
By any standard, Monday was a very hot day. During the last 116 years for which Chicago weather records are available, the temperature has reached 104 degrees only twice before: on July 24, 1934, when it hit an all-time high of 105; and exactly 35 years ago, on June 20, 1953, when it also was 104. Monday`s high temperature at the lakefront was 102. At Midway Airport, it was 101.
Forecasters say there is a clear connection between the current heat wave that brought hot, moist air up from the Gulf of Mexico and the rain accompanying it.
In suburban Carol Stream, Jeff Powell and his wife, Jean, stood on their front porch Monday night and watched as their three children played in the downpour.
”This is great,” Powell said. ”It`s about time. We`re just tickled to death to see this. We`ve watered about once a week to keep it (their yard)
looking decent.”
His wife said it started to rain just as she was about to start sprinkling. ”I came out with my hose, and I decided to watch it for a while,” she said.
Several suburbs have put severe bans on lawn sprinkling. Violators in Oak Brook found the water supply to their homes cut off. There was a $200 charge to get it turned back on.
At the Stratford Square Mall in suburban Bloomingdale, shoppers and store employees greeted the rain like a long-lost friend.
”Wonderful,” said Carl Patano, of Elgin, a Montgomery Ward & Co. employee. ”My grass is going to be green again.”
Sherry Maske, of Wheaton, also welcomed the rain, ”even though I left the windows in my house up because it was so hot,” she said. ”But I don`t care. I`ll just go home and mop up.”
As often happens in the Chicago area, rainfall amounts varied significantly from place to place.
In Wheaton, there was 0.75 inches of rain by 9 p.m. At O`Hare, the official measuring station, it totaled 0.36 inches by 8 p.m.
The Metropolitan Sanitary District measured 0.48 inches in Glenview, 0.09 in Skokie, 0.11 on Chicago`s Northwest Side, 0.15 on the West Side, 0.18 on the Far South Side and zero on the Near North Side.
”What we need is a good steady downpour for 5 to 6 hours,” said John Schafter of Des Plaines, who continued to sprinkle his lawn in the rain.
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The weather service said the rain was heaviest in a 10-mile band that stretched southeast from Woodstock to Chicago Heights. Showers were scattered across most of northern Illinois, however.
Forecasters said the warm, moist air blanketing the Chicago area Monday was in sharp contrast to the drier hot air that came in from the southwest in the last few weeks.
The relative humidity Monday was 30 percent, which, when combined with 104-degree heat, was mighty uncomfortable. The heat-humidity index that measures such discomfort was 110 Monday afternoon.
The previous high temperature this year was 94, on several days, including June 14. On that day, the relative humidity was 25 percent and the discomfort index 91, lower than the temperature because of the lower humidity. The 110 index reading Monday placed the Chicago area in what the National Weather Service called its ”hazard category.” The service warned that with a 110 reading, heat cramps or heat exhaustion are likely with prolonged exposure combined with physical activity.
”Residents are urged to use common sense in their outdoor activities,”
a weather service bulletin said.
At the lakefront, breezes off the lake dropped the temperature from 101 degrees to the comparatively mild 80s in late afternoon while the rest of the city was sweltering.
The last time Chicago`s temperature reached 100 degrees was on July 28, 1983. Monday was only the 48th day of 100 or higher since 1872. Little is known about the weather before that time because the National Weather Service`s Chicago records for the previous era were destroyed in the Chicago Fire in 1871.
With all the heat and humidity Monday, air conditioners were operating at full blast. Commonwealth Edison Co. said it set an all-time record for generating electricity: 15,784,000 kilowatts between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. This broke the previous record of 15,683,000 kilowatts set last Aug. 3, but Edison spokesmen said the new record could be short-lived if the heat wave continues. Edison reported that all four of the company`s newest nuclear generating units were used to meet the record demand for electricity. The two Byron units and the first unit at Braidwood operated at or near capacity. The second unit at Braidwood, which is in startup testing, operated at half capacity.
Not everyone was able to enjoy the wonders of air conditioning during the day`s heat.
”It`s like slow suicide,” said construction worker John Blackman, while working on the Dan Ryan Expressway repair project.
David Hennric Yeboah, a cabdriver from Ghana, said Chicago on Monday experienced ”hotter than African heat.” He said that cabbies were not turning on their cab`s air conditioners for fear of overheating their engines. The Chicago Motor Club reported a ”very busy day” answering emergency calls from members whose cars had overheated, often because they were driving with the air conditioning on.
The hottest day in 35 years did not deter the Itasca Fire Department from conducting training exercises Monday. A group of firefighters spent the day igniting and then extinguishing fires in an abandoned house in the suburb.
The rains came as many suburban officials warned of the danger of grass and prairie fires.
The Crystal Lake Fire Department banned open burning in its area. ”We have had 20 (prairie fires) in the last week,” Fire Chief Richard Nebel said. In Kane County, Fire Chief Larry Swanson of St. Charles, said fire calls to his department have increased by about 50 percent in the last two months.