Currently in Chicago — July 20, 2023: Some storms & some sun on Thursday

The weather, currently.

Takeaways for Chicago’s weather:

1. Scattered strong storms possible Thursday

2. No signs of any extreme heat

3. A warm and mostly dry weekend forecast

There may be a few strong to severe thunderstorms mainly south and east of the city on Thursday but most of the day should feature a mix of sun and clouds with highs hitting the middle to upper 80s. A bit cooler for Friday with partly to mostly sunny skies and highs in the lower 80s. Seasonably warm weekend with highs in the middle 80s and partly cloudy skies most of the time but a hit or miss afternoon thunderstorm possible Saturday. A few more scattered showers and thunderstorms possible Sunday. Little change Monday but a warmer start to the week with highs in the upper 80s. Cooler most days lakeside by 5 to 10 degrees.

— Tim McGill

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What you can do, currently.

The climate emergency doesn’t take the summer off. In fact — as we’ve been reporting — we’re heading into an El Niño that could challenge historical records and is already supercharging weather and climate impacts around the world.

When people understand the weather they are experiencing is caused by climate change it creates a more compelling call to action to do something about it.

If these emails mean something important to you — and more importantly, if the idea of being part of a community that’s building a weather service for the climate emergency means something important to you — please chip in just $5 a month to continue making this service possible.

Thank you!!

What you need to know, currently.

A strong tornado hit Rocky Mount, North Carolina on Wednesday, damaging a Pfizer medicine plant — a worrying reminder of the overlap between the climate crisis and public health.

A Pfizer spokesperson told the AP that no employees were hurt during the storm, although the estimate is 50,000 pallets of medicine were damaged or destroyed. The damaged factory was “one of the largest sterile injectable facilities in the world,” according to Pfizer, making about 25% of injectable drugs used in U.S. hospitals every year.

There’s growing evidence in recent years that tornado alley has been shifting eastward in recent decades, away from Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, and towards more populated areas like Tennessee, George, and the Carolinas. The change is significant, too, with the bullseye of tornado frequency shifting about 500 miles eastward from near Oklahoma City to near Nashville.

The reasons for this aren’t well-known, but climate change seems to be playing a role with dryer weather in the West and higher-moisture air in the Gulf of Mexico. The work of Stephen Strader shows that, when taking into account the historical reasons why the South has the highest poverty rates in the country, this is another example of climate change creating worse outcomes for the most vulnerable members of society.

—Eric Holthaus