Currently in Chicago — June 26, 2024: A few clear days ahead

The weather, currently.

Severe storms ripped through the Chicago area, leaving damage, floods, and power outages in their wake. After a hot and steamy day today, we’ll cool down a bit overnight. After a slight chance of more showers in the evening and early morning hours, we’ll head into a gorgeous sunny Wednesday with a high in the mid-70s. We can expect mostly clear skies to continue through Thursday night, then the stormy weather will likely return for the weekend.

In case you needed yet another incentive to leave your car at home, Illinois will see a 3.5% jump in state fuel taxes starting next week.

— 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.