After a day of excessive heat and a poor air quality warning, weather officials said Wednesday would be much cooler with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon.
On Tuesday, heat indices reached up to 115 degrees in some areas, followed by thunderstorms into the night hours. Wednesday officials expect highs to reach near 80 degrees, and said there was a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms for parts of north-central and northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana.
Isolated thunderstorms are possible Wednesday morning, mainly south of I-80, and in the afternoon, National Weather Service officials said,
Officials also said a few strong storms with isolated damaging winds and large hail, mainly southeast of the Pontiac to Valparaiso line.
Officials expect conditions to be mostly cloudy with temperatures reaching a high near 80. Wednesday night, conditions are expected to remain mostly cloudy with a low around 69 degrees, officials said.
Current conditions at Midway Airport are mostly cloudy at 74 degrees, and further northwest at O’Hare International Airport, conditions are the same at 73 degrees.