Currently in Chicago — August 20, 2024: Delightful days and dragonflies

The weather, currently.

We can continue to look forward to a run of mild, mostly clear days through this week, gradually warming to the 90s by the weekend. Monday night will drop to nearly 60 with a light breeze, then Tuesday we’ll have sunshine and a high of 70 with mostly clear skies. The pollen count is way up there again.

While the weather above is gorgeous, most Lake Michigan beaches are closed to swimming due to rough water, but you still might want to visit the shoreline to witness the annual migration of green darner dragonflies currently moving through Northern Illinois.

— 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.