Currently in Chicago — July 18, 2024: A mild and sunny Thursday

The weather, currently.

Chicagoland is just starting the cleanup from the derecho, the ten eleven tornados, and the widespread flooding that hit Sunday and Monday nights. Astoundingly, no lives were lost in Illinois, but this is only a taste of what is to come.

Fortunately, the extreme weather is taking a break for now. We may see scattered sprinkles tonight, with a low around 64 and some gusty winds. Then Thursday will be clear and sunny with a high of 73, which I’m particularly happy about because I’m visiting my beehives in the morning, followed by the annual Rogers Park Taco Crawl. Team Cilantro FTW!

— 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.