Currently in Chicago — July 25, 2024: Several sunny days ahead

The weather, currently.

After a few clouds blow through tonight, and a low in the mid-60s, Thursday should be mostly sunny and mild with a high around 75 towards the lakeshore, and closer to 80 inland. This pattern should hold through Saturday evening before we have another spate of storms arrive. Good news for our block party!

The annual arrival of wildfire season means haze and irritants in the air, and there’s already quite a bit of smoke generated from Canadian wildfires. I found this nifty live map that displays the smoke forecast, which could be helpful to those who are sensitive.

— 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.