Essex, Illinois Weather
Essex, Illinois — live current conditions, hourly and 7-day forecasts, NWS alerts, radar and satellite imagery, soil and crop conditions for Essex, Kankakee County.
Full aviation weather for Essex is published on the Dwight Airport (KDTG) page, 22 km away. It carries the current METAR decoded into plain language — surface wind, visibility, cloud layers and ceiling, temperature and dewpoint, and altimeter setting — alongside the raw observation as transmitted. 6 airfields within reach of Essex have their own pages, listed below.
The Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) is shown across its full validity period, with each change group broken out so you can see when conditions are expected to shift. Flight category is derived automatically — VFR, MVFR, IFR or LIFR — from reported ceiling and visibility, with runway details and field elevation alongside. Observations update roughly hourly and forecasts several times a day.
Other airports near Essex: Morris Municipal Airport James R. Washburn field (KC09) 34 km · Joliet Regional Airport (KJOT) 38 km · Lewis University Airport (KLOT) 48 km · Cushing Field Ltd Airport (K0C8) 52 km · Bolingbrook's Clow International Airport (K1C5) 58 km
Conditions reported at KDTG describe the airfield itself. Weather 22 km away can differ, particularly in terrain or near the coast. For conditions at Essex specifically, see the current conditions and forecast above.
Soil conditions, frost risk and crop weather for Essex.
About Essex, Illinois
Essex lies under a sky that seems to stretch on forever, a vast, pale blue canvas brushed with the fleeting shapes of clouds. It lies 17.3 miles west-north-west of Kankakee, IL (from Kankakee, IL: bearing 283°T), and is situated 6.2 miles south-south-east of Braidwood. The land itself is a study in subtle gradients, a gentle, rolling terrain where fields of corn and soybeans, in their seasons, paint broad strokes of green, gold, and russet. The air here carries a clean, earthy scent, a blend of tilled soil and the distant, sweet perfume of ripening crops, especially potent on warm, languid afternoons. Little pockets of woodland, dense and watchful, break the expanse, their leafy canopies rustling secrets to the wind. The roads, mostly straight and true, cut through this landscape like deliberate stitches, connecting farmsteads that stand solitary against the horizon. The story of Essex is deeply entwined with the rich, dark earth that has sustained its people for generations. Originally settled by farmers drawn to the fertile prairie, the local economy has long been anchored in agriculture, with grain elevators standing as silent sentinels at the edge of town, hinting at the ceaseless cycle of planting and harvest. While the landscape itself remains largely unchanged, the quiet hum of machinery in the fields and the occasional rumble of a passing freight train are the modern rhythms of this place. Essex carries the unpretentious character of a community that understands the value of hard work and the quiet satisfaction of a day's labor, a spirit that has weathered the changing times with a steadfast resilience.
Live animated radar for Essex and surroundings — RainViewer.
NOAA GOES-16 GEOCOLOR — live animated loop updated every 10 minutes. Shows cloud cover, storm systems and weather patterns across the continental US.
Source: NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East · Public domain · Auto-updates on page reload
| Location | Essex, Kankakee County, Illinois |
| Coordinates | 41.177254°N, 88.185612°W |
| Timezone | Central Time (America/Chicago) |
| ZIP Code(s) | 60619, 60649, 60435, 60935 |
| Area Code | 708, 630, 331 |
| Page generated | September 2026 |
| Weather data | Open-Meteo (open-source), NOAA National Weather Service |
About This Essex, Illinois Weather Page
This page provides live weather conditions and forecasts for Essex, Illinois, including current conditions, a 24-hour hourly forecast, 7-day outlook, NWS extended text forecast, precipitation radar and NOAA GOES-16 satellite imagery. Aviation weather — live METAR observations and TAF forecasts — is published separately on the pages for the nearest reporting airports, linked from the aviation section above. Additional sections may include tide predictions, wave height, wave direction and sea-surface temperature, a barometric pressure trend, and a solunar-based fishing forecast with a fishing-conditions rating for coastal localities, and soil temperature, crop weather and live USGS river gauge data for agricultural areas near a monitored waterway. All data updates automatically on every page visit.
Location data for Essex includes coordinates 41.177254°N, 88.185612°W, situated in Kankakee County. ZIP code 60619, 60649, 60435, 60935. Telephone area code: 708, 630, 331. Timezone: Central Time (America/Chicago).
Weather data is sourced from the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) and the open-source Open-Meteo API. River and stream data is sourced from the USGS National Water Information System. Tide predictions are sourced from NOAA CO-OPS; marine and solunar data are modeled from Open-Meteo and public sunrise/moon calculations and should be treated as a general guide alongside on-the-water conditions. Radar is provided by RainViewer. Satellite imagery is sourced from NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East and is public domain.
