Heat, Cook
- When
- August 5, 12:00 PM CST to August 7, 6:00 PM CST
- Where
- Cook forecast zone
- Deaths
- 5 direct, 0 indirect
Heat in Illinois, August 5 to 7, 1996
Three days of heat indices above 100 degrees, contributed to 4 deaths in Chicago and one in Elmwood Park. On the 5th the high temperature at O'Hare was 89 and Midway was 90 and the heat index was 100 at both locations.
The toll
- Deaths
- 5
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS LOT wrote it up.
Three days of heat indices above 100 degrees, contributed to 4 deaths in Chicago and one in Elmwood Park. On the 5th the high temperature at O'Hare was 89 and Midway was 90 and the heat index was 100 at both locations. On the 6th the temperature at O'Hare was 89 with a maximum heat index of 104 and Midway was 93 with a heat index of 106. On the 7th O'Hare was 92 with the heat index 104 and Midway was 93 with the heat index 106.
Event by event
1 heat. Local standard time, as filed.
The people who died
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat, Cook | 1996-08-07 | 70 | Female | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Heat, Cook | 1996-08-07 | 72 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Heat, Cook | 1996-08-07 | 63 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Heat, Cook | 1996-08-08 | 84 | Female | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Heat, Cook | 1996-08-09 | 68 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
What these are
- Heat
- Heat below excessive heat criteria that still caused deaths, injuries or significant impacts.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Lightning Strike in Wyoming, August 5, 1996
- Lightning Strike in Illinois, August 5, 1996
- High Wind in Wyoming, August 5, 1996
- Lightning Strike in Wisconsin, August 5, 1996
- Lightning Strike in Wisconsin, August 5, 1996
- Lightning Strike in Iowa, August 5, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Wisconsin, August 5, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Texas, August 5, 1996
- Lightning Strike in Wisconsin, August 5, 1996
- Lightning Strike in North Carolina, August 5, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Wisconsin, August 5, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Florida, August 5, 1996
More
Every storm in Illinois in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, August 1996
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5563383.