Currently in Chicago — July 12, 2024: Humid nights and hot days ahead

The weather, currently.

After a muggy night with temps in the upper 60s, Friday should be sunny and less humid, with a comfortable high in the upper 70s. We’ll see a similar situation Friday night and Saturday… a cooler humid night and a hot clear day… but the temps will push up into the mid-80s. A chance of storms will return Saturday night and Sunday; the high will top 90 degrees with a heat index over 100.

A little weekend reading for you: this think piece comparing germ theory deniers to those who reject climate change gave me a bit of hope for the future.

— 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.