How will storms impact our weekend, specifically Saturday through Sunday morning

EUROPEAN CENTER FORECAST MODEL ON HOW PRECIPITATION MAY LAY OUT LATE SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING

Plenty of available energy with thunderstorms that develop. These storms will be prolific lightning producers. Future lightning density for Sunday as the line of storms moves through the area

Strong or possible severe thunderstorms threaten damaging wind gusts large hail, isolated tornadoes and drenching downpours as a potent late summer storm system moves into the area.

CITY LOGS 14TH OFFICIAL 90-DEGREE DAY THURSDAY

13th at Midway Airport as both airports record a high of 90 degrees

ESCAPING THE EXTREME HEAT

• You realize how fortunate we’ve been in Chicago in for all intents and purposes ESCAPING THE EXTREME HEAT which has plagued such a broad area of the world in just completed July. Check out this Thursday post from Climate Central: “An attribution analysis by Climate Central has found that 6.5 billion people — more than 80% of the world’s population — were impacted by heat intensified by human-caused climate change during July.”
• AND JUST YESTERDAY, WITH WINTER UNDERWAY in the southern hemisphere comes word of record heat in South America. Writes Berkeley Earth climate scientist Dr. Zeke Hausfather (https://twitter.com/hausfath) in a Thursday post: “Just in case our Northern Hemisphere summer wasn’t crazy enough, parts of South America is experiencing 100-degree F (38C) heat in the middle of winter…”
• And the following is from the EXTREME TEMPS IN THE WORLD website comes this: “South America is living one of the extreme events the world has ever seen with unbelievable temperatures up to 38.9C (102 F) in the Chilean Andine areas in mid winter!”
• The UPPER AIR “HEAT DOME” ANALYSIS was posted by veteran meteorologist Guy Walton who operates the “GuyOnClimate” blog (https://guyonclimate.com/)

• From Climate Central: “July 2023 was marked by record-shattering global average temperatures and widespread local heat extremes—which are among the deadliest weather-related hazards.
• Analysis using the Climate Shift Index, Climate Central’s daily temperature attribution tool, indicates that human-caused climate change made July’s extreme heat far more likely.
• At least 2 billion people around the world—one-quarter of the global population—felt a very strong influence of climate change on each day in July.”

POST STORM TORNADO DAMAGE PHOTOS

FRIDAY NIGHT’S MOMENCE, IL EF-1 TORNADO
from photographer KAT SEIBER

• My National Weather Service-Chicago colleagues posted this updated graphic Wednesday summarizing days of survey work on the storms which swept the Chicago area this past Friday night—work which continues—saying:
• “As it stands right now, we have confirmed a total of 6 tornadoes from Friday night’s storms. While our ground surveys have largely been wrapped up, additional tornadoes may still be confirmed in the coming days as we review drone footage and high resolution satellite imagery.”

THE “RING OF FIRE” PATTERN IS DOING ITS THING TO CHICAGO’S SOUTH AND WEST

• Flooding rains have drenched sections of Missouri and downstate Illinois overnight and Thursday morning after a day with heavy rains in Iowa Wednesday
• The “RING OF FIRE” pattern you see mentioned here and which I bring up so often on our WGN-TV weather programs involves the clockwise rotation of drenching/severe weather-producing clusters of thunderstorms around the periphery of HOT AIR DOMES, like the one which has been ever present in recent weeks across the southern U.S.
• The HEAVENS OPENED again overnight in these storms. Of the torrential downpours downstate, our State Climatologist here in Illinois, Dr. Trent Ford, posted the following Thursday morning: “Another week, another very heavy rain event in Illinois. A band of radar-estimated 6-8 inch in the last 12 hours in Marion, Clay, and Wayne Counties. CoCoRaHS observer west of Flora measured 7.53”.”