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  • Currently in Chicago — August 8, 2023: A break from extreme heat

Currently in Chicago — August 8, 2023: A break from extreme heat

Plus, North Korea faces a rare typhoon this week.

The weather, currently.

Scattered afternoon storms.

Takeaways for Chicago’s weather:

1. Seasonably warm most of the week

2. A few afternoon thunderstorms Tuesday & Wednesday

3. Cooler by the end of the weekend

Mix of clouds and sun Tuesday and Wednesday with a chance each afternoon for some scattered showers and thunderstorms as highs hit the middle 80s. Partly to mostly sunny Thursday and seasonably warm again with highs in the middle 80s but cooler lakeside. Partly to mostly cloudy Friday with some more scattered afternoon showers and thunderstorms possible as highs climb into the middle 80s. Looks like a dry weekend with plenty of sunshine as highs cool to the lower 80s Saturday and just upper 70s Sunday.

What you need to know, currently.

After curving eastward at the last minute, Typhoon Khanun is now bearing down on the Korean Peninsula.

Parts of eastern North Korea could receive up to 500 mm (20 in) of rain in just 48 hours later this week as Khanun passes through. It’s the latest weather disaster in North Korea after a drought-filled spring prompted a food crisis, and heat waves and heavy rains plagued the authoritarian state in July.

There have been only 5 typhoon-strength storms to make landfall in North Korea since complete records begin in 1945. Khaun is expected to restrengthen over the next two days and traverse directly over Seoul, South Korea, while directing most of its strongest wind, storm surge, and rainfall on the eastern half of the Koreas.

Khanun will only be able to restrengthen because it will be traversing some of the most unusually warm water in the world between Japan and the Koreas, approximately 4-5°C (7-9°F) hotter than normal. That will also act to enhance the rainfall it produces.

Last week, Typhoon Doksuri brought Beijing its largest rainstorm in recorded history, and had Khanun taken a similar track, it would have greatly compounded flooding in China.

What you can do, currently.

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