Chicagoans try to stay cool as oppressive three-day heat wave ticks down

Chicago-area residents were coping the best they could during potentially record-setting heat Monday.

Enela Palavra, a Skokie native, lounged on a small concrete bench with her friend in Evanston’s Fountain Square, resting her head on a nearly empty bottle of strawberry-flavored Gatorade.

“Every time it gets really hot, I’m like ‘Man, I wish it was winter,’” said Palavra, 32. “It’s really a testament to the saying that we always want what we don’t have. But I am enjoying the heat.”

Palavra said she drove to Evanston because it is closer to the water. She said she tries to stay hydrated when temperatures rise, and opts to play sports like pickleball outside, bringing cold towels and taking breaks when needed.

Chicago-area temperatures rose to 95 degrees on Monday, nearing a record of 97 degrees for June 23 set in 1930.

Adam Gunzberg, who lives in the South Loop, also drove up with his friend to Evanston to walk around the cooler shore.

Gunzberg said he’s tried his best to stay in air-conditioned places and drink enough water, especially when he’s playing pickleball at a health club in the city. He said he and his friends opt to play earlier in the morning on hotter days, when the temperatures are cooler.

“As long as you take care of yourself, and the people around you, I think that’s all we can do,” Gunzberg said.

Heat index values, a measure of temperature and humidity, reached 100 degrees throughout the city, with forecasts of 105 degrees in outlying areas of Cook County.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Extreme heat raises the risk of heat exhaustion, heat stroke and other hot weather-related illnesses, health experts say. Symptoms of heat stroke and heat exhaustion include high body temperatures, headaches, dizziness, a fast and weak pulse, nausea and loss of consciousness. Heat exhaustion, which is characterized by muscle cramps, clammy skin and thirst, can lead to heat stroke if not treated.

The extreme-heat warning ends late Monday night, but David King, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said temperatures throughout the city on Tuesday would be just a “gradual step down,” with highs in the low 90s. Temperatures throughout the week will remain in the mid-80s to low-90s.

“It’s really compounding,” King said. “Even if we don’t get to the exact heat index values of 105 or so, this is just three days of heat. People are going to be feeling the heat and humidity regardless.”

Meteorologists and city officials urge people to stay inside air-conditioned places whenever possible and recommend limiting activity outdoors and staying hydrated.

Anyone in the city can access cooling centers and can call 311 to request welfare checks. Teams at the Chicago Department of Family and Support services are checking in on encampments of unhoused people, and are helping people reach cooling centers.

The following cooling centers will be open:

• The Chicago Department of Family and Support Services will have six community service locations open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday
• Chicago Park District, Chicago Public Library, City Colleges of Chicago and Chicago Police Department locations will be open for cooling during regular hours of operation.
• The city’s 21 senior centers are open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; the center at 78 E. Washington St. is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The facilities will be activated as cooling centers Monday and Tuesday.

The National Weather Service predicts chances of scattered showers and thunderstorms through the rest of the week, largely in the evenings. Wednesday, temperatures could come down to the upper 70s near the lake, but high temperatures will remain in the upper 80s to low 90s.