Damage assessed after storm complex sweeps parts of the Midwest; Pattern change here brings cooler and comfortable conditions

FEELS COOLER

Clouds have arrived Tuesday afternoon, but we remain rain/storm free. The reduction in temperatures &and humidity Tuesday are welcome despite still being warm and sticky. It felt as much as 20° cooler than Monday (2nd image below) when heat index was well over 100°.

STORM CLEAN UP UNDERWAY

We faired very well despite some tress downed by 58 mph wind gusts early Tuesday morning. We received what was left of a powerful severe storm complex that raked Iowa and Illinois late Monday.

Storm reports Monday topped 800 Nation-wide. The storm complex Monday that swept from Iowa to Indiana produced wind gusts of 90mph and embedded tornadoes. The National Weather Service Chicago has six survey teams checking nearly 30 damage tracks. NWS Northern Indiana confirmed an EF0 tornado (85mph winds) near Elkhart.

COOL OFF COMING

A cold front is coming but severe storms are not in the forecast here. While a shower/t-shower chance lingers overnight and early Wednesday, there is a big change coming. A storm complex will be directed south overnight and with the approach of the cold front a broken line of showers and thundershowers are possible into early Wednesday morning.

The wind shift early Wednesday will mark the demise of this spell of oppressive humidity. Humidity levels will dive sharply late Wednesday into Thursday morning lowering dewpoints to the 50s! Drier air affords air temperatures to cool, and they will rest of the week. We can look forward to refreshing early morning low temperatures in the 50s starting Thursday morning and lasting into the weekend.

Sunshine and milder weather will finish the work week and continues into Brickyard 400 weekend. Race day Sunday will be seasonal in the 80s under partly cloudy skies.

AT THE HALFWAY POINT SUMMER 2024

Checking in on summer 2024. Hard to believe it is the midway point. This summer is among the warmest 24% on record (ranks 38th) with 60% of the day averaging above normal, nearly 2° warmer than last Summer. There is a new pattern emerging and extended spell of sunshine and mild weather is expected. May have some staying power too. The second half of July has a high probability of running cooler than average.

Rainfall recently has been plentiful, and the first half of July has been a wet one. We have had nearly 3.50″ of rain this month, a surplus of over one inch. Summer 2024 (since June 1st) is still at a deficit of 1.79″. We will be drying out for a few days, with no organized rain/storm chances returning again until next Tuesday.

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