You probably didn't need scientists to tell you the obvious about the weather this summer in Chicago and elsewhere across the Midwest.

It's been very, very hot.

The Midwestern Regional Climate Center says Chicago registered 45 days with temperatures at 90 degrees or higher this year through the month of August. Normally, Chicago has 13 days with those kinds of temperatures for the year through the end of August.

St. Louis had 70 days of 90 or 90-plus temperatures during that same eight-month period. It usually has around 35.

Taking every day of the year through August, the average temperature in Illinois was 58.9 degrees. That's a record.

The previous record was recorded in 1921. That year, the average temperature for January through August was 58.3 degrees.