Currently in Chicago — August 14, 2024: Mostly sunny hump day

The weather, currently.

The mild temperatures continue as we head into a low tonight of around 67. Wednesday will see some clouds arrive to play hide-and-seek with the sun, giving us a high in the upper 70s. Wednesday night will bring a chance of showers in the evening, with a slight chance of thunderstorms after midnight.

This is the beginning of a four-day run of potential showers and thunderstorms that will unfortunately last through the weekend. We should see sunshine and clear skies again next Monday through Wednesday. If you’ve been feeling sniffly, you might be noticing the moderately high pollen count, mainly ragweed. Gesundheit!

— Katje Sabin

What you can do, currently.

A Media Matters analysis found that last year — the hottest calendar year on record — network coverage of climate actually declined in the US. What’s worse, just 12% of reports about climate change mentioned fossil fuels as the driving cause. The media still reported on extreme weather, but stopped short of making the climate connection.

Independent climate journalism like Currently is needed more than ever. And this year, with all of these weather warnings already underway, we’ll unfortunately have plenty of opportunities to do better.