Friday: Early morning storms precede record-breaking, June-like warmth

NOTE: This story has been turned into an almanac of Friday’s weather. We have published a new forecast/weather story for Saturday.

It was early June in late March as temperatures soared to near 80 degrees for much of the Chicago area Friday thanks to a howling southwest wind that gusted near 50 mph pushing the warmth right up to area beaches.

The readings were more than 25-degrees above normal and marked a stunning day to day change as Friday’s summer-level warmth was in stark contrast to temperatures a day before. Friday afternoon temperatures were as much as 30-degrees warmer than the same period a day earlier.

Shortly before 4 p.m., Midway International Airport reached a new high temperature record of 79 degrees, eclipsing the previous record set in 1968 by one degree. About an hour later, Midway logged its second 80 degree day of the month, something that’s happened in only two other years since records began on the south side in 1928.

The most 80s ever to occur in March was 8 days in 2012.

The warmth wasn’t confined to the Chicago area. It was even warmer in many locations across the Midwest where new record highs were established.

Early in the morning, a period of showers and embedded thunderstorms disrupted the Friday morning commute. Ground stops were also issued at both O’Hare and Midway international airports for a few hours.