CHICAGO — The city will face a hotter, drier summer than usual, meaning we'll be using a lot of AC, could see the Lake Michigan water level drop and might have to cut back on sprinkler use.
Chicago will go "back and forth with hot weather" throughout the summer, said AccuWeather meteorologist Paul Walker. The city is expected to be 3 to 4 degrees warmer than usual from June through August, causing a "strain on the air conditioning systems," Walker said.
“People without air conditioning [will] have to be looking for places that are open for cooling,” Walker said. There's “that concern.”
The city is also expected to see less rain than usual, though storms will occasionally break up the heat, Walker said.
Chicago's Summer Weather Will Be Drier, Warmer Than Usual
“I think we’re still [going to] get enough rain from time to time that we’re going to be all right, but it’s going to be below normal …,” Walker said.
The decrease in rainfall could be bad news for the city's gardeners, Walker said, and the suburbs could face restrictions like limits on watering lawns and washing cars.
Chicago itself limits sprinkler use to 5-8 a.m. and 7-10 p.m. on weekdays until mid-September, but it typically doesn't need to implement other restrictions, said Gary Litherland, a spokesman for the Department of Water Management. The city's closeness to the lake and small lawns (Litherland joked his is the size of a "postage stamp") contribute to the lack of restrictions compared to those enforced in the suburbs.
"I remember once it was really bad out. We just basically asked folks to conserve," Litherland said. "Chicagoans are pretty good about it."
The department isn't anticipating any other regulations this summer, though some changes might come up later in the season, Litherland said.
The water level in Lake Michigan could drop a small amount due to the weather, Walker said, but there probably won't be any significant change.
It “certainly looks like it’s going to be drier than normal. That may cause some problems for those folks as far as their crop production … farmers and gardeners may have to do some watering on the side if they’re allowed to,” Walker said.
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