Currently in Chicago — August 8, 2024: Summery

The weather, currently.

We can look forward to a solid week of sunshine with a few clouds scudding through, with daytime highs in the mid-to-high 70s and evening lows in the mid-to-low 60s. Tonight should be mostly clear and mild, with a low of 68. We’ll see a high on Thursday in the upper 70s, perhaps ticking over 80 inland.

It’s a great time to plan to get away from the concrete and enjoy the summer blooms and wildlife. Did you know about Urban Heat Islands? Concrete really does affect how heat is trapped in a city. Here’s a map of Chicago’s hottest neighborhoods.

— 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.