Currently in Chicago — August 2, 2024: A soggy Friday, then a sunny weekend

The weather, currently.

Expect scattered showers and thunderstorms rolling through the area tonight and through Friday. Look for highs near 80 and heavy humidity that will push the heat index well into the 90s. Once the clouds carry all that moisture away, skies should clear up over Friday night for a mostly sunny weekend. Saturday should see a high near 82, and Sunday will be a little warmer, up to 84. Nighttime lows will be around 70.

I ran across an article on how climate change affects our Midwestern summers. The upshot: you’re not imagining things, it really IS hotter and more humid than before.

— 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.