If you're sick of the heat, relief is on the way.
An excessive heat warning issued for Chicagoland has expired. After a day with many high temperatures reaching 98-102 degrees, Friday will feel cooler, though still muggy.
Temperatures will fall to about 77 on Thursday night, but conditions will still be muggy and uncomfortable. Showers and thunderstorms possible in the overnight hours will bring the temperatures down, but just a bit. Some south and southwestern suburbs on Friday will reach well into the 90s. Others will be stuck in the high 80s.
By Monday, mostly sunny conditions produce mid-80s temps and -- thankfully -- cooler air near the lakefront.
Until then, residents are warned to drink plenty of water and stay out of the sun when possible.
Thursday's Updates:
5:15 p.m.: Video forecast at the top of this story has been updated.
5:05 p.m.: The Chicago Transit Authority's Red Line is experiencing "minor delays" due to track trouble in the area of Cermak, the agency reported on its website. Trains are operating on a single track between Cermak-Chinatown and the Sox-35th stations to repair a track damaged by high heat.
"With trains in both directions sharing the one track, they must stop to allow each other to pass which adds to the travel time," CTA said in a statement.
Shuttles are being offered between the Roosevelt and 47th Street stations. Crews will work on the damaged portion of track tonight.
3:12 p.m.: Temperature is 98 degrees at Midway Airport with a heat index of 109 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
3 p.m.: Where's that cool front? Still on the way, but it won't provide much relief. The Excessive Heat Warning is still due to end at 9 p.m.
1 p.m.: Temperature is 96.1 degrees with a heat index of 109.4, according to the National Weather Service
12:30 p.m.: The OEMC has placed 14,000 reverse 911 calls to at-risk seniors. "If you haven't seen a neighbor in a day or so, it's time to check," said John McNicholas with the Chicago Fire Department.
The department opened its Emergency Operations Center as a precaution, warning that heat exhaustion is cumulative over multiple days of hot weather. "We want to be ready in the event that something does go wrong, but so far things have been very solid," OEMC Executive Director Gary Schenkel said.
10:30 a.m.: Following reports of children becoming ill from extreme heat during summer classes at Penn School, Chicago Public Schools said in a statement it has received very few complaints Thursday about the heat from parents and students. Becky Carroll, CPS spokeswoman, said 80 percent of summer schools have air conditioning or partial air conditioning. [Read More...]
6 a.m.: About 6,300 homes are without power, including 4,900 residences in Chicagoans because of a transformer device issue. About 400 ComEd crews are working to get the homes back online.
