July was among hottest, wettest for Chicago area

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Updated: August 1, 2011 1:33PM

To no one’s surprise, July 2011 ranks as the wettest and one of the hottest in Chicago since such records have been kept.

According to the National Weather Service, July 2011 is the wettest July on record in Chicago, with a total of 11.15 inches of rainfall. This broke the old record of 9.56 inches which was set in 1889. Such records have been kept since 1872.

More than half of the month’s total rainfall drenched the area on July 23, when a record 6.86 inches of rain fell.

The month that has just ended also is the third warmest July on record for Chicago.

At O’Hare International Airport, where the city’s official temperature is recorded, the high temperature reached 80 degrees or greater on 30 of July’s 31 days, according to the weather service. The only year that the high temperature reached 80 or greater on all 31 days was in 1955, which is the warmest July on record in Chicago, the weather service says.

A high temperature of 80 or more on 30 days in July also occurred in 2010, according to the weather service.