Currently in Chicago — July 11, 2024: Buh-bye, Beryl

The weather, currently.

Hurricane Beryl barreled through the Chicago area last night; while we all got wet, she really hammered the South Side with up to 3.4 inches of rain in a 24-hour period. Adding insult to injury, a water main burst and some communities are under a boil order.

But it does seem like the worst is over. There’s a slight chance of showers tonight, then a low of 66 followed by a beautiful mostly sunny day on Thursday with a high near 75. We’ll have a heating trend through the weekend and into next week, peaking in the low-90s on Sunday.

— 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.