WGN Weather Center Blog

An arcus cloud is a low, horizontal cloud that forms in front of an outflow boundary/thunderstorm.  Roll clouds and shelf clouds are two types of arcus clouds.

The roll cloud differs from shelf clouds by completely being detached from the thunderstorm.  These pictures were taken on July 5th on Lake Michigan looking north from a sailboat.

 

Bob Reincke shares this photo of a rainshaft associated with one of Sunday afternoon and evening scattered showers.  He was facing west as he took this through the window of his West Loop condo. Great show! Thanks Bob--great shot!

Tom Skilling


Photo courtesy of Bob Reincke, Chicago

Alma and Greg Jones from Aurora, Ill., were traveling North on Route 39 back home when they spotted this swirling funnel cloud in the sky around 6:30pm Sunday evening, July 5.

Greg said they were traveling North on Route 39 just a few miles West and South of 88 when they saw the thin funnel cloud drop and swirl in the sky. "It was so close we just had to get these pictures and video," Greg said. "Hope you enjoy them and can use them." We certainly are enjoying the video. Thanks for sharing it, Greg and Alma!

Who among us didn't chuckle when he predicted his famous "Finckle sprinkles"? My colleague Steve Kahn has contacted me Sunday evening with the truly sad news that we've lost a giant in the world of meteorology with the passing of Earl Finckle at age 81. Earl was a true original---a one of a kind figure in the world of broadcast meteorology. To say that he is going to be missed by his colleagues and legions of fans across this country is an understatement.

    My memories of Earl are such warm ones. I chuckle when I think back on the many talks I had with him.  He would stop by our WGN weather office frequently to record reports for use on Orion Samuelson and Max Armstrong's WGN radio Noon Show and we'd have a chance to visit and compare notes on the developing weather situation--or some development in the weather which had caught our attention in recent days. They were the kind of exchanges which would take place with a passion and energy that only two genuine weather crazies can understand.  I always felt Earl a soulmate in our mutual love of the weather. His innate knowledge of meteorology, honed by years of hard work at his Central Weather Service out of Palwaukee Airport, made him a household name, not only in Chicago but through his work on radio stations across the country.  Earl's broadcasts on WIND and his work with my colleagues Orion Samuelson and Max Armstrong on the WGN radio Noon Show as well as their nationally syndicated television agriculture programs air on stations across the country were legendary and widely followed. When Earl spoke, folks at the Board of Trade and elsewhere listened---and intently! He combined his incredibly sharp wit and an often uproarious sense of humor and a keen knowledge of meteorology, the product of years of study and operational weather analysis and forecasting, to generate reports which were at once informative and fun to hear.

    Forecasters like Earl Finckle don't come along everyday.  It was such a pleasure to have had the privilege to know him and to look forward to his reports. It's his passion toward what he did that makes it so incredibly hard to say goodbye to him.  A job VERY well done, my friend!

Tom Skilling

A sunny and warm Sunday afternoon turned showery late as rains developed along a wind-shift line moving southeast out of Wisconsin. Though the showers were low-topped and produced little thunder and lightning, they did spawn numerous funnel clouds west of the city along a corridor between Interstate Highway 39 and the Fox Valley. These funnels were "cold air-type funnels," the kind not associated with severe thunderstorms that almost always dissipate without producing any damage.
After a chilly 4th of July, temperatures rebounded into the comfortably warm lower 80s Sunday, a level expected to repeat here through midweek. Hot weather has been noticeably absent from the city since a streak of 90s in late June, but the latest suite of computer forecasts hints at a brief surge of hot weather that should reach the city by Friday. The downside to the expected warm-up will be a threat of showers and thunderstorms that will continue to add to the city's growing 2009 precipitation total that has now reached 26 inches -- nearly three-quarters of the city's normal annual total of 36.27 inches.

Dear Tom,
On average, how many days a year does Chicago experience fog?
Alice H.
Dear Alice,
On many cool, calm mornings around sunrise, parts of the Chicago area, especially in the suburbs, will experience ground fog as the air cools to saturation. The fog usually burns off quickly, creating only brief inconvenience. There are many other days where light fog is present from a variety of causes resulting in reduced visibility. However, there are only an average of about 12 days each year when Chicago is socked in with dense fog (visibility one-quarter mile or less) that seriously impacts transportation. Dense fog is most common here during the cold season, frequently occurring when warm, moist air passes over cold snow-covered ground. December through March hosts a majority of the area's dense fog occurrences with each month averaging about two days.

Jamie Walter of DeKalb sent us this photo of a funnel cloud he spotted at 6:45 p.m. Sunday evening (July 5). Jamie reports that he "never saw it touch down, and it soon seemed to dissipate." Thanks Jamie for the photo!



Photo courtesy of Jamie Walter, DeKalb, Ill.

Kimberly Tippetts of Belvidere shares these pictures she took Sunday afternoon near her home of a funnel cloud. She reported that "no sirens went off as it was sunny all around this 'small' supercell."

The brief but widely scattered showers developed along a weak wind shift line moving southeast out of Wisconsin. Most of the Chicago metro area remained dry.

Thanks Kimberly for your great photos!






Photos courtesy of Kimberly Tippetts, Belvidere, Ill.