Chicago weather: Record-breaking heat expected today

CHICAGO - Step outside and immediately you’ll feel something isn’t quite normal for late October. 

Temperatures aren’t far from 70 degrees as of this writing and they’ll only go up from here. It even feels a little humid out there. Highs today will easily smash the record of 78 degrees set most recently in 1999. Low 80s are in store. Skies will be partly sunny.  The winds will be a big story too with gusts out of the south-southwest exceeding 40 mph at times.

Due to the winds and dry conditions, a Red Flag Warning will be in effect this afternoon and evening for the potential of rapidly-spreading and erratic fire behavior. Lows tonight will stay in the mid to upper 60s which means that today’s high-minimum temperature record of 65 degrees will also be broken. In fact, this will likely be the warmest low on record so late in the season. 

Tomorrow’s record is 85 degrees and will not be broken. Highs, however, will be in the low 80s once again under partly to mostly cloudy skies. Winds will be gusty once again, too. 

Then the focus shifts to the potential for showers and storms after midnight into early Halloween morning.  Some higher-resolution forecast models are strongly suggesting that the line of showers fizzles here with barely any rainfall.  I’ll stay on top of this trend as the failure mode due to the inopportune time of day for storms and ongoing drought cannot be ignored. What is certain is that any showers would be long gone by trick or treat time.