Currently in Chicago — August 28, 2024: Armpit weather continues

The weather, currently.

We are living in the devil’s armpit for a few more days, folks. The high heat of Tuesday will break, but the humidity will rise overnight, along with a chance of showers and potential thunderstorms tonight through Friday. Tonight’s low will settle at around 80, and we can expect a high of around 85 (closer to 80 by the lake). My bees are bearding like crazy!

The Chicago River Swim might sound refreshing, but city officials nixed the plan due to potential hazards. It’s still happening, just not IN the river. For now, the chonky turtles and returning otters won’t have human competition in their river realm.

— 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.