Despite recent heat in the Illinois Valley, it’s been a mild summer, but still early

It’s been a magical season for the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp, including the mild summer heat. Simply put, the Shrimp’s play has been hot – much hotter than the ambient air temperature.

Ahead of Saturday’s western conference championship, team owner and field manager John Jakiemiec said several things broke in the team’s favor in 2024 including favorable weather. Despite a notable number of rain delays the overall field conditions weren’t as wilting for he and his players.

“We didn’t really experience the heat the way we have in the past few years,” Jakiemiec said. “It felt a lot less humid than in past summers.”

Data from the National Weather Service and the Weather Channel website largely back that up. There were nine days in June topping out at 90 degrees or higher and three such days in July.

There might not be any in the near future. A warm weekend will peak Monday with a high of 92 degrees but then showers will usher in cooling temperatures.

Zachary Yack, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chicago, said the 10-day outlook is decidedly pleasant, but August and September still can bring extreme heat.

“I don’t know if this is the end of summer – I think that’s a little bit of a stretch – but we’ll be in the upper 70s to lower 80s for the rest of the week,” Yack said.

Yack confirmed Illinois avoided the record-smashing temperatures felt in the western states. Northern Illinois experienced what’s called a “Ring of Fire” pattern: high pressure out west versus lower pressures in the Midwest ushered in storms and periodic showers that held down the mercury – just as Jakiemiec described.

True, there was a stretch of dangerous heat during Oglesby Summer Fun Fest – June 17 saw a summer peak of 94 degrees – but even as much of America broke heat records the Illinois Valley marked zero days at or near 100 degrees.