The state-wide temperature in Illinois for the first half of August (August 1-15) was 79.5 degrees, 5.7 degrees above normal. That should come as no surprise to anyone who experience the hot, humid conditions in August.
The state-wide precipitation for the first half of August was 2.32 inches, just 0.41 inches above normal. The wettest conditions were in the northern third of Illinois with most locations reporting 2 to 5 inches of rain. Meanwhile parts of eastern and southeastern Illinois have been on the dry side, reporting less than 1.0 inches so far in August. The rest of the state was close to normal (around 2 inches).
July 1936 – Hot in Chicago
While this summer has been hot and humid, it pales in comparison to the hottest month in Illinois history – July 1936. Here are the records from July of that year at Midway Airport in Chicago. The temperature hit the triple digit mark nine times that month. That’s more times than for the entire 1954 to present-day period at Midway Airport. Also, eight of those nine days in July were consecutive.
It was also very dry with only 0.31 inches of precipitation that month. A “T” in the precipitation column means the a trace event – enough to wet the sidewalk but not enough to measure.
The second table has the reports from the University of Chicago site. Those numbers show that conditions closer to the lake were a little more tolerable that summer but still very warm. And this was all before air conditioning was in widespread use.
| (111577) CHICAGO MIDWAY AP_IL |
| Date | Precip (in) |
MaxT (F) |
MinT (F) |
| 1936-07-01 | 0.00 | 86 | 55 |
| 1936-07-02 | 0.00 | 79 | 63 |
| 1936-07-03 | 0.00 | 86 | 60 |
| 1936-07-04 | T | 91 | 64 |
| 1936-07-05 | T | 82 | 68 |
| 1936-07-06 | 0.00 | 92 | 68 |
| 1936-07-07 | 0.00 | 102 | 70 |
| 1936-07-08 | 0.00 | 106 | 73 |
| 1936-07-09 | 0.06 | 100 | 71 |
| 1936-07-10 | 0.00 | 106 | 77 |
| 1936-07-11 | T | 107 | 76 |
| 1936-07-12 | 0.00 | 100 | 76 |
| 1936-07-13 | 0.00 | 102 | 73 |
| 1936-07-14 | 0.00 | 104 | 69 |
| 1936-07-15 | 0.00 | 91 | 74 |
| 1936-07-16 | 0.00 | 91 | 72 |
| 1936-07-17 | 0.00 | 93 | 66 |
| 1936-07-18 | 0.14 | 86 | 70 |
| 1936-07-19 | 0.05 | 80 | 62 |
| 1936-07-20 | 0.00 | 80 | 57 |
| 1936-07-21 | 0.00 | 88 | 60 |
| 1936-07-22 | 0.00 | 95 | 59 |
| 1936-07-23 | 0.06 | 99 | 69 |
| 1936-07-24 | T | 78 | 66 |
| 1936-07-25 | T | 94 | 64 |
| 1936-07-26 | T | 102 | 71 |
| 1936-07-27 | T | 85 | 67 |
| 1936-07-28 | 0.00 | 98 | 60 |
| 1936-07-29 | 0.00 | 74 | 65 |
| 1936-07-30 | 0.00 | 78 | 51 |
| 1936-07-31 | 0.00 | 83 | 50 |
| Sum: | 0.31 | 2838 | 2046 |
| Count: | 31 | 31 | 31 |
| Average: | 0.01 | 91.5 | 66.0 |
| M = Missing, T = trace | |||
| (111572) UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO |
| Date | Precip (in) |
MaxT (F) |
MinT (F) |
| 1936-07-01 | 0.00 | 82 | 58 |
| 1936-07-02 | 0.00 | 72 | 63 |
| 1936-07-03 | T | 81 | 61 |
| 1936-07-04 | T | 82 | 64 |
| 1936-07-05 | 0.01 | 74 | 66 |
| 1936-07-06 | 0.00 | 84 | 67 |
| 1936-07-07 | 0.00 | 95 | 72 |
| 1936-07-08 | 0.00 | 95 | 76 |
| 1936-07-09 | 0.03 | 95 | 74 |
| 1936-07-10 | 0.00 | 102 | 80 |
| 1936-07-11 | 0.00 | 97 | 80 |
| 1936-07-12 | 0.00 | 89 | 76 |
| 1936-07-13 | 0.00 | 91 | 76 |
| 1936-07-14 | 0.00 | 96 | 75 |
| 1936-07-15 | 0.00 | 86 | 74 |
| 1936-07-16 | 0.00 | 82 | 73 |
| 1936-07-17 | 0.00 | 84 | 70 |
| 1936-07-18 | 0.10 | 81 | 71 |
| 1936-07-19 | T | 75 | 70 |
| 1936-07-20 | 0.00 | 76 | 67 |
| 1936-07-21 | 0.00 | 79 | 66 |
| 1936-07-22 | 0.00 | 89 | 66 |
| 1936-07-23 | 0.05 | 95 | 70 |
| 1936-07-24 | T | 72 | 68 |
| 1936-07-25 | 0.00 | 83 | 66 |
| 1936-07-26 | T | 90 | 71 |
| 1936-07-27 | 0.03 | 86 | 68 |
| 1936-07-28 | 0.00 | 87 | 65 |
| 1936-07-29 | 0.00 | 73 | 65 |
| 1936-07-30 | 0.00 | 74 | 64 |
| 1936-07-31 | 0.00 | 78 | 58 |
| Sum: | 0.22 | 2625 | 2140 |
| Count: | 31 | 31 | 31 |
| Average: | 0.01 | 84.7 | 69.0 |
| M = Missing, T = trace | |||