What has happened to summer? That was the question from many area residents Wednesday amid May-level 60-degree temperatures. The day's high of 65-degrees marked the chilliest open to a July here since 1930 and was one of the three coolest July 1 readings on the books in 139 years of weather records since 1871. Summer temperatures at that level are truly rare. Of 7,452 meteorological summer (June through August) highs on the books since 1928 at Midway, only 184 of them--just 2 percent---have registered temperature as cool or cooler.

Scattered lake-enhanced rain showers amid the Wednesday's chill lowered cloud bases in the downtown area, obscuring the tops of skyscrapers while producing periods of upper 50-degree temperatures.

While Chicago missed the July 1 record low maximum of 61-degrees set 1904 and 1924, record low daytime highs occurred at Rockford (65-degrees) and downstate at Lincoln where the high was just 70-degrees.