PHOTOS: How Chicagoans Beat The Heat As Temperatures Soared This Week

CHICAGO — The worst of this week’s heat seems to have passed in Chicago — but it will still remain dangerously warm for several days.

The city has been in the grips of a days-long heat wave that, at its worst, saw Chicago feel as hot as about 108 degrees Tuesday afternoon, said Lee Carlaw, a National Weather Service meteorologist. The weather agency issued an extreme heat warning, encouraging people to stay inside if possible and take safety precautions if they needed to venture outside.

The heat warning continues through Thursday, when it will feel like it’s about 100 degrees outside, Carlaw said.

“Then as we work our way through Friday into the weekend, it’ll still be warm, but the worst of the heat and humidity is going to start shifting off toward the south and east,” Carlaw said.

The change will “take the edge off the worst conditions,” but it’ll remain hot, with Friday seeing a high temperature of about 90 degrees while it could feel closer to 100 degrees in some parts of Chicago, Carlaw said.

Temperatures will fall slightly Saturday and Sunday, with expected highs in the mid- to upper 80s while it’ll feel 5 to 10 degrees warmer, Carlaw said.

There are also chances for storms and rain Friday through Sunday, though they will be scattered with long periods of dry weather, Carlaw said.

Meanwhile, neighbors from every corner of the city did what they could to beat the heat this week: helping neighbors put in air conditioning units, taking shade under umbrellas when outside, misting themselves.

And along West Madison Street in Austin on Wednesday, a group of people sat in the shade while watching people seek respite in the gushing waters of an open fire hydrant.

“Staying cool is a gift,” a neighbor said.

“Yessir, we got our own beach,” said Darcell, another neighbor.

See how Chicagoans faced this week’s dangerously warm weather: