CHICAGO — Yes, Illinois has had a rainy, somewhat chilly June. As for Chicago? It's nothing special.
This is the wettest June on record for Illinois, which so far has received more than 8 inches of rain. It hasn't been a record-setting month for Chicago, with the city getting 6.95 inches (not including anything that might fall Tuesday), said AccuWeather.com senior meteorologist Tom Kines. That makes this the 11th-rainiest June on record for Chicago.
More than one-third of the month's rain can be attributed to a single day: June 15, when the city was pummeled with 2.56 inches, Kines said. The heavy rainfall shut down streets and flooded homes (despite it all, Chicagoans managed to turn out to celebrate the Blackhawks' Stanley Cup victory).
June 15 was a turning point for the city, with 5.15 inches of the month's rainfall coming on or after the month's midway point. In fact, before the 15th, Chicago's rainfall was only .18 inches above average.
Still, it was rainier than average. Kines said the city's average rainfall for June is 3.45 to 3.5 inches.
Top 5 Wettest Junes For Chicago:
No. 1: 10.58 inches in 1892
No. 2: 9.96 inches in 1993
No. 3: 8.89 inches in 1950
No. 4: 8.75 inches in 1867
No. 5: 7.81 inches in 2014
Records courtesy Kines
Why The Rain?
Where did all that rain come from? Kines said summer months — June, July, August and "even September" — mean thunderstorms for Chicago, and those storms can bring heavy rain. If the storms are slow-moving, "you'll get even more rain out of 'em," Kines said.
"We were dealing with thunderstorms" June 15, Kines said.
Low Temperatures — Well, Barely
Another reason to stop complaining about the weather? It hasn't been a remarkably cold month: This June isn't "even close" to hitting the top 10 for chilliest Junes in city history, Kines said.
This June's average temperature was 67.4 degrees, which is only a degree and a half lower than normal, Kines said. The chilliest June on record averaged 61.2 degrees in 1903, with that six-degree difference being "significant," Kines said. (By comparison, Illinois' coolest June was in 1903, when the average was 52 degrees, according to the National Weather Service's online rankings.)
"Usually when you start talking temperature departures of three, four, five degrees, that's becoming pretty significant," Kines said. "One degree is not a big deal. When you start getting two ... it's something that you'll probably start to notice.
"I think if you ask most people if this was a cool June, they'd probably say 'yes'."
Kines said Chicago saw "a lot of days" where temperature highs were only in the 70s and 60s.
"Having said that, we did have that one day where it was 92 back on June 5," he said.
That means this month ranks somewhere in the 50s or 60s for coolest Junes — which is "nothing special," Kines said.
Fourth of July Weather
The rest of this week — including the Fourth of July — looks like it will be drier, Kines said, although he was quick to add the week isn't "necessarily a warm one."
The city will see temperatures popping into the 70s, while highs in the 80s are more normal for July, Kines said.
Time to start complaining about July weather, Chicagoans.
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