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Currently in Chicago — October 3, 2023: Summer's last hurrah?
Plus, El Niño continues to accelerate global temperatures.
Eric Holthaus & Katje Sabin
October 02, 2023
The weather, currently.
Tuesday’s sun will be the last for a while
The summery weather we had over the weekend will continue through tomorrow, with clear skies tonight and a low in the mid-60s. Tuesday will bring another bright and sunny day, with a high of 78 and a light breeze. We’ll have a warm evening with a low of 68, and clouds will begin to move in. We could see rain on Wednesday and Thursday, though it will stay warm with a high in the low 80s on Wednesday.
Looking at the National Weather Service’s summary for September, we saw an average increase of 3.2° above normal temperatures. Although October came in hot, we can expect more seasonal temps in the 50s and 60s this weekend.
What you need to know, currently.
New data show that the last week of September was the most anomalously warm week in history. That’s not so surprising given that we’re going into what looks like a very strong El Niño — the tropical Pacific warmth that defines these linked ocean-atmosphere patterns typically starts spreading worldwide during the last four months of the year.
Here’s more, from CarbonBrief:
Global surface temperatures set a new record this week for the highest daily temperature anomalies (departure from the norm) ever observed. They were recorded by a Japanese climate database called the JRA-55 reanalysis product. These were approximately 1C warmer than the 1991-2020 baseline period used by the dataset and around 1.9C warmer than the pre-industrial (1850-1900) temperatures.
As Currently reported last week, these data add to the increasing likelihood that we may already be living in the first 12-month period that’s 1.5°C warmer than pre-industrial levels, and that a few upcoming weeks may top 2°C for the first time ever.
What you can do, currently.
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One of my favorite organizations, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, serves as a hub of mutual aid efforts focused on climate action in emergencies — like hurricane season. Find mutual aid network near you and join, or donate to support existing networks:
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