November 2007 Archives

December 2007 dawns much as the month did a year ago -- with the season's first significant winter storm in the area. While a 6-8 hour period of sleet and freezing rain starting this afternoon is the major threat with this year's storm, snow was coming down hard as Dec. 1 got underway a year ago. The thundersnow which accompanied the wintry system was a product of cloud tops scanned to heights of 30,000 feet -- unusual in a cold-season storm -- and so loud, it set off car alarms. By the time that system exited, 6.2" had been measured at O'Hare and 3.3" at Midway; some northwest suburbs were covered by nearly a foot of snow.
The scope of Saturday's storm is remarkable. Sections of 24 states were under winter storm advisories Friday night. Ice may accumulate as sleet falls, then shifts to freezing rain. Supercooled droplets falling into the subfreezing air will freeze on contact with colder outdoor surfaces until temps rise above freezing late tonight.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

The books close on Chicago’s chilliest November of the past five years Friday night at midnight. The month’s 38.6° estimated average temp -- 4 degrees cooler than November a year ago and nearly 0.5° below normal—counters the mild temperature trend which has dominated the three month meteorological autumn 2007 period. The season is to finish 20th warmest since records began here 137 years ago.
Friday’s predicted high of 34° becomes the eighth of the past 9 days with highs which have failed to break out of the 30s. Thursday’s 33° high was the second coolest of this fall and a stunning 30° cooler than the 60° on the same date a year ago.
December, typically the area’s cloudiest, 2nd snowiest and 3rd coldest month of the year, gets underway Saturday with 14 central U.S. states under winter storm watches. Chicago is in for its second major round of precipitation since just before Thanksgiving.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Though skies were dark and dreary Wednesday as light showers and sprinkles developed late in the day, it was mild as high temperatures surged to their warmest levels in more than a week. The city’s official 48º high at O’Hare was the mildest here in more than a week since it reached a balmy 55º on Nov. 20. Some areas were even warmer with a 50º high in the Loop at Northerly Island and a 54º maximum at Kankakee.
Wednesday’s warmth will be a distant memory as strong west winds knock temperatures down nearly 15º as today’s highs struggle to reach the middle 30s. And by Saturday the city will be facing the prospects of the season’s first major episode of wintry precipitation as an approaching storm takes aim at the area. Ironically, this storm comes on the anniversary of one of last winter’s biggest storms that produced 6-12+ inches of snow from the city north on Nov. 30 - Dec. 1.

--By Steve Kahn, WGN-TV Weather Center Meteorologist

A reinforcing surge of cold air limited Chicago’s high temperature to 35º Tuesday, the third chilliest of autumn to date. The reading extended to six the number of consecutive daytime 30s—the area’s longest late November sub-40º string in 30 years. Arctic air is notoriously dry, a characteristic on display Tuesday. Dew points, a measure of atmospheric moisture, dropped to just -1º at Midway and +2º at O’Hare. Those are readings rarely found outside the arctic, and when they have occurred here, they’ve generally done so in the midst of bitterly cold mid-winter arctic outbreaks. The push of dry air was also reflected in Tuesday’s relative humidity, which plummeted to just 22%—the lowest November level here in 13 years.
Powerful southerly winds interrupt the string of 30s Wednesday. The winds are occurring beneath a 180 m.p.h. jet stream. Wind speeds of 80 m.p.h. just 3,000 ft. above the city will produce surface gusts in excess of 40 m.p.h.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

The Chicago area is in the midst of its chilliest weather of the past nine months. For a fifth consecutive day Monday, temperatures failed to reach 40 degrees -- a sixth is predicted Tuesday. Not since March 2-7 have so many sub-40-degree highs occurred.
The sun set last week (Nov. 18) at Barrow, Alaska, and won't rise again there for two months until Jan. 23 at 1:06 p.m. It's a situation indigenous to the arctic, and the resulting lack of sunlight is a major reason cold air collects so quickly there and is able to penetrate into the Midwest with increasing frequency. Although it's chilly in Chicago as Tuesday dawns, bitterly cold early season arctic air is in control along the U.S./Canadian border from northern Montana to Lake Superior. There, temperatures dropped below 0 degrees overnight.
The clock is running on meteorological Fall, 2007. The season has just four days to go, ending with December's arrival at midnight Friday night.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

The month of December is climatologically the cloudiest month of the year, followed closely by November, and the week ahead in Chicago will live up to those benchmarks.
While there will be periods of sunshine, daytime as well as nighttime skies look to be predominantly cloudy the next seven days. A far-reaching overcast extending north from a low pressure system headed east up the Ohio Valley will hold over Chicago today, with a good chance of light rain also reaching into northeast Illinois. Some sunshine is possible Tuesday, but low pressure to the north will give longer periods of cloudiness and even a chance of light rain or wet snow Wednesday.
Friday may see the first vestiges of a low pressure system in the southern Plains that could have a major impact on the Midwest over the coming weekend. Some computer models project a colder Ohio Valley storm track that could result in accumulating snows in Chicago.
--By Paul Dailey, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

Morning sun today in Chicago belies the approach of a strengthening storm system. Low pressure is forecast to move north out of the Gulf of Mexico into the Ohio Valley Monday spreading rain over northeast Illinois. Cooler high pressure will follow Tuesday before the next storm system moves through from the west Wednesday. Precipitation may start as rain Wednesday but should change over to snow as much colder Canadian air sinks south into the Midwest. Thursday is expected to be much colder with temperatures 10 to as much as 15 degrees below late November normals. Gusty northwest winds combined with the cold air will likely create a strong lake effect snow event over northern Indiana.
Computer models then project the formation of another low pressure system in the southern Rockies Friday that could bring the first significant snow of the season to northern Illinois next weekend.
--By Paul Dailey, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

Readings failed to break above 32 degrees Friday for the first time this season. Chicagoans haven't shivered through a day as cold in nearly seven and a half months. The chill arrived 10 days earlier than it did last year. The first day in 2006 with a high of only 32 degrees was Dec. 2. Chilly as it was, at least residents on this side of the lake didn't have to deal with the 8.3" of lake-effect snow which accumulated over two days at Benton Harbor, Mich., and finally ended Friday afternoon.
High clouds comprised of ice crystals streaming northeastward off a Plains storm system late Friday evening produced a halo -- a bright circle -- around the moon which caught the attention of a number of area residents. The clouds responsible are to thicken into a fairly solid overcast which may produce a few flurries Saturday before breaking and allowing intervals of sunshine.
Meteorological autumn's final weekend is underway. December -- the start of meteorological winter season -- begins next Saturday.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Thanksgiving Day's flurries and the period of light snow the night before have put the first measurable snowfalls into the record books here. Measurable snow -- defined as an accumulation of 0.1" or more -- hadn't occurred since 3" fell 7 months ago on April 11. O'Hare reported 0.3" Wednesday night and Thursday while 0.1" fell at Midway. Lake-effect snows whitened the Indiana/Michigan snowbelt from Porter County to areas east Thursday. By evening, Benton Harbor, Mich., reported 4.5" while Rolling Prairie and South Haven came in with 4"; South Bend, Ind., logged 2.7".
Thursday's 33-degree high was Chicago's coldest since April. A second day of 30s is predicted Friday.
North America's highly "amplified" or wavy jet stream pattern is behind the chill in the Lower 48 -- and unseasonably mild temps in Alaska. It was warmer there than in Chicago on Thanksgiving: Seldovia reported 52 degrees, Homer had 49 degrees, and Anchorage and Fairbanks both recorded 40-degree highs.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

A light cover of snow from Wednesday night's blustery storm system is evident in north suburban Lindenhurst in this photo sent to us by WGN Weather Intern Patrick Korellis. Many thanks for sharing this and best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving to you, Patrick, and all of our blog readers!
--Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Powerful N/NE winds, which roared into Chicago at more than 30 m.p.h. after a 320-mile trek over the length of Lake Michigan, kept precipitation here in liquid form Wednesday. The "warming" effect of 46-degree lake waters on the lower atmosphere is difficult for most storms to overcome. Not until well after sunset did an injection of colder air begin the transition from rain to snow in the far northwest suburbs. Rain changed to snow at Rockford at 6 p.m., and by 8 p.m. had begun accumulating on colder outdoor surfaces near Arlington Heights, Oak Brook and Mundelein. When snow develops at marginally cold temperatures, flakes often stick together. That process in parts of the metro area Wednesday led to reports of 1-inch diameter snowflakes at a few locations. Wind-driven rains Wednesday totaled more than 2" in parts of the city, including 2.20" at Whitney Young High School. The 1.32" (through 8 p.m.) at Midway was the heaviest since Aug. 22 -- three months ago.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

These photos of dense fog Tuesday morning are courtesy of our intern, Monika Bec. The first one was taken off I-88 near DeKalb and the second was taken in Plainfield. Visibilities continued to be quite limited Tuesday evening with some areas less than a quarter of a mile.

--By Bill Snyder, WGN-TV Weather Producer

A wet, wind-driven snowfall appears a good bet for areas to the west and northwest of Chicago Wednesday night. The transition from a cold rain to wet snow or a mixture of snow, sleet and rain, could begin in far western locations as early as late Wednesday afternoon. Farther east, there is greater uncertainty whether snow will end up accumulating, though there is the expectation the cold rain which is to fall much of the day will eventually change—even if temporarily—to some snow or flurries Wednesday night.
Warm ground and mild lake water temps typically provide an unfriendly environment for late autumn’s first snow systems. In the weather situation predicted to come together Wednesday night, communities in McHenry, Boone, Kane and DeKalb counties appear most likely to experience some accumulation. It’s a development which would lead to this area’s first Thanksgiving in 3 years to boast a snow cover.

--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Drizzle and dense fog greet many as Tuesday dawns across the Chicago metro area. It’s the second day ill-timed fog shrouds the area, a development which threatens additional flight delays. By late Monday evening, visibilities had already plummeted to less than a quarter mile from DeKalb to Aurora and DuPage Airport. Fog forms when nighttime cooling or the arrival of cool air from an adjacent area forces temperatures to fall to the dew point—the temperature of saturation. When the temp and dew point match, air holds as much moisture as it can. The relative humidity soars to 100% and fog often forms. An area from roughly I-80 northward is at greatest risk for fog, while areas south, including Kankakee and Rensselaer, Indiana, are in for springlike low 70s. Monday’s 62° high at Northerly Island and 66° at Kankakee were the area’s mildest readings in nearly a week.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Denny Sands relays this photo to us taken this year back on November, 7. I thought you mind find his accompanying e-mail interesting.

“While fishing at Shabbona Lake in DeKalb County, on November 7th, 2007, my fishing partner Tom Adair, said look at that. In the Sky was two airplane trails making an "X" in the sky. Looking more closely, we saw where one plane veered off, but yet a trail continued.

We determined the darker trail was actually a shadow that was caused by the sun lining up making a shadow which perfectly continued the "X".’


Thanks for sharing this with us, Denny!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy of Denny Sands, Shabonna, Illinois

Photo Courtesy: Denny Sands

Fall 2007 has been one of the Midwest's mildest and driest in years, but an ill-timed onslaught of snow and cold may disrupt the busy Thanksgiving travel period. The week will start out mild, with readings well above normal, though rain will develop ahead of an approaching storm system.
Colder air will make a move into the region beginning Tuesday night as low pressure makes a northeast run up the Ohio Valley. Though the exact track and intensity of this storm are still in doubt, the potential for accumulating snow exists across a wide swath of the Midwest.
Locally, rain should change to wet snow Wednesday night, then diminish to flurries on Thanksgiving. Though initially the snow here should melt because of warm pavements and warmth from 48-degree Lake Michigan waters, enough may eventually accumulate -- especially north and west of the city -- to bring the area its 12th White Thanksgiving since 1884, and the first since 2004.
--By Steve Kahn, WGN-TV Weather Center Meteorologist

The mercury will be on the rebound early this holiday week as southerly winds usher in milder air. Monday and Tuesday look to be the mildest with highs near 60º, but conditions will deteriorate as a storm system spreads rain into Chicago by late Tuesday. Temperatures will take a plunge Tuesday night as winds shift into the north, and by Wednesday a cold rain may mix with or change to wet snow.
Thanksgiving Day promises to be cold with highs only around freezing. There could be some lingering morning snow flurries before sunshine returns in the afternoon.
The recent chill that brought Chicago its coldest weather of the season has penetrated south to Florida. Temps dropped into the upper 20s at Tallahassee and Gainesville (both 28º) and the 34º low at the Panhandle city of Apalachicola established a new record for the day. Even areas as far south as Naples (50º) experienced the chill.

--By Steve Kahn, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

Chilly air is reinforced by northeast winds Saturday. While hardly a perfect lake-effect set-up, the flow may tap just enough moisture to bring a few sprinkles ashore later this afternoon. This year's abnormally mild fall has kept Lake Michigan comparatively "warm," which is why any lake-effect precipitation later today is likely to occur in liquid form. A late-week satellite analysis of surface water temperatures by NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory puts Lake Michigan at 48 degrees. The warm water adds enough heat to the lower atmosphere to melt snowflakes to raindrops, an effect which nighttime cooling may override Saturday night.
Friday's 41-degree high was the second coldest this autumn. That reading followed the coldest overnight lows in 7-plus months -- including 17 degrees at Sugar Grove and Lincolnshire. The chilly air mass sent temps 700 miles to the south at Vicksburg, Miss., to 24 degrees Friday morning -- a reading which equaled Chicago's official 24-degree low at O'Hare.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Our friend David Lindgren shares this evening's sunset with us in this photo at the University of Illinois Research Farm near Shabbona in DeKalb County. David farms in that area and tells us, "It is getting harder to see standing corn left in the field, and harder to see untilled corn stalks as well. I hope to be done with tillage by Thanksgiving…." It's always great hearing from you and many thanks for the always informative updates!
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Friday dawned with skies covered by extensive and high and mid-level
cloudiness. It made for this beautiful sunrise photographed by Jim
Bayne. Thanks for sharing it, Jim!
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Photo courtesy of Jim Bayne, Chicago

Friend of this blog Amanda Pickett from Windfield, Ind., shares these photographs of Friday morning's sunrise and the fall colors in her area. MANY THANKS, Amanda!
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Photos courtesy of Amanda Pickett

Friday opens with the Chicago area’s coldest daybreak readings since the 22° low recorded here back on April 7. The temperature at west suburban Sugar Grove had dropped to 20° by 10 p.m. Thursday—and was still falling. Though afternoon highs are to recover to the mid and upper 40s Friday, the 60s of earlier this week are a distant memory and the weekend ahead looks cool. A predicted shot of southerly winds Monday into Tuesday morning offers the best hope of a modest temp recovery—but that warming is expected to be fleeting.
Thursday’s 40° high—the first 40° or cooler daytime reading of the season—arrived 35 days later than last year. Forty of the past 48 years have recorded comparably chilly temps earlier than Nov. 15.
The cool season’s arrival has produced dramatic changes here. Chicago’s shoreline water temps have dropped 33° from the summer’s highest, and the sunlight this time of year is just 26% the strength of the mid-summer sun.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

The powerful winds which dominated Wednesday spill over into a second day Thursday. They deliver the Chicago area’s coldest temperatures yet this meteorological autumn and the chilliest daytime readings in the 7 months since April 12—a day which saw a high of just 38°. Thursday won’t be a lot better, peaking at just 39°, though locations treated to more frequent sun are likely to see low 40s. While windy, peak velocities Thursday should fall short of the 45 m.p.h. gusts which raked Aurora and the 41 m.p.h. gusts at Geneva, Naperville and Rockford. Thursday’s maximum velocities are to hit 25-30 m.p.h. at times.
November reaches its halfway point Thursday. To date, the city’s coolest high temp has been 43° on Nov. 7. By contrast, the coolest daytime high by Nov. 15 a year ago was 34°. Weather records indicate the coolest reading by this date has averaged 35°, suggesting Thursday’s chill is overdue.

--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Sheldon Faworski has forwarded us this photograph of the core of Comet Holmes taken last Friday night (11/9/2007). Comet Holmes, still faintly visible on clear nights, appears about 40-degrees above the northeast
horizon just after sunset, our astronomer Dan Joyce tells us, then transits (moves) nearly directly overhead by about 1:30 a.m. Early risers may see it about 45-degrees above the northwest horizon just
before sunrise. The comet has led to e-mails from many of you who monitor the night skies. Dan reports it exploded with no advance warning in late October, turning much brighter in the process. Though visible to
the naked eye, as what Dan terms a "softly focused planet", it can be seen more clearly through the use of binoculars or a telescope.

This photo from Dan's friend and astronomical colleague Sheldon Faworski, offers us a view of the comet with fascinating detail. Sheldon wanted us to know that our Dan Joyce produced the mirrors used in his telescope and that he (Sheldon) actually constructed the telescope through which this photo was taken. Thanks to both Dan and Sheldon for alerting us to the Comet Holmes and for the wonderful photo.

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Sheldon Faworski

Judy Fabrizius shares this beautiful sunrise shot with us from far west suburban Maple Park, Illinois in western Kane County.
Judy tells us her husband, who farms there and is therefore up early each morning, took this picture. Many thanks to you and your husband for sending it along, Judy!

Tom Skilling

Photos courtesy of Judy W. Fabrizius, Maple Park, Illinois

From the St. Charles area in the Fox Valley comes this awesome sunset photo submitted to us by Mike Frankowski. Thanks for sharing this with us, Mike!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Mike Frankowski

Weather records reveal half of Chicago’s Novembers have hosted back to back 60° highs, like the 66° and 60° readings recorded here Monday and Tuesday, over the Nov. 11-20 period. And while there are no indications of another set of 60s in the foreseeable future, history indicates Nov. 29 has been the average date of the city’s final 60° temperature.
Gusty winds between a powerful eastbound autumn storm in Canada and a huge high pressure, expected to cover virtually all of the country east of the Rockies, become increasingly evident to area residents Wednesday. Gusts reach/exceed 30 m.p.h. at times by afternoon and are to transport the most expansive U.S. cool air surge to date south to Florida and the Gulf Coast. Lows in the upper 20s and low 30s are to extend as far south as northern Florida late Friday night. Thursday’s predicted 39° high in Chicago would be the fall season’s coolest yet and the lowest daytime reading here since April 12.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Fall colors, which have peaked across much of the Chicago metro area, are still out and quite spectacular in the city itself. Nick Liveris was out in Tuesday’s 60-degree warmth and shares some of his beautiful fall color shots with us. Many thanks, Nick!

Tom Skilling

Photos courtesy Nick Liveris

Anson Mount shares this shot of tonight’s gorgeous sunset in the area. It was taken just west of Mundelein on Route 176. Thanks Anson!


Anson Mount

Marsha Laskowski sends us this shot of Pioneer Peak, north of Anchorage. The low angle late autumn sun can be seen behind the mountains as can the snow cover which is in place. Marsha and her mother have recently made the move to Alaska from Chicago and are enjoying their new home. This has been a dream come true for both.

THANKS for the beautiful photo, Marsha, and please keep us posted on the coming Alaskan winter! It’s good hearing from you and please know all of us in Chicago send a warm hello back to you!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Marsha Laskowski

A burst of springlike warmth visited the Chicago area Monday treating area residents to the warmest temperatures here in three weeks and the first 60°+ reading this month. Highs soared to 66° at O’Hare and Midway—readings 20° above last year’s 46° high and 17° above normal. It was the warmest Nov. 12 high temp in the 43 years since the 69° high in 1964. Weather records dating back to 1871 reveal only 2% of the area’s annual 60°+ highs have occurred this late in the season, underscoring the unusual nature of Monday’s warmth.
Elevated relative humidities and dew points (a measure of atmospheric moisture) contributed to Monday’s clouds and haze—but went into a dive during the afternoon once a cool front passed. An 11 a.m. dew point of 55° and relative humidity of 77% had crashed to 27° and 34% respectively by 7 p.m. indicating strong post-frontal late day drying.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Last week on Friday, in the wake of an Upper Midwest early season snow, we shared with you some winter wonderland shots sent along by our friend Dan Hanson in Winter, Wisconsin. Dan got back to us this morning with a follow-up shot positioned at exactly the same spot he snapped the snow scene on Friday—only this one was taken in 54-degree temperatures Sunday afternoon---two days later!  As Dan says in his e-mail to us, “What a difference 2 days make!”  Thanks again Dan for the the pictures and the update. 

Tom Skilling

Friday’s snow-covered winter wonderland in northern Wisconsin...

…gives way to bare ground and 54-degree Sunday temperatures!

Photos courtesy: Dan Hanson

Temperatures were nearly steady in the upper 40s overnight as south winds and cloud cover held over Chicago in advance of an approaching cold front. Clouds persist and showers develop as the front moves through northeast Illinois today. Even with a wind shift to the northwest, because readings are starting out at levels around the normal high for this date, temps should continue to climb at least into the lower 60s before topping out. The front is expected to stall in central Illinois tonight, then move back north before moving on east Tuesday. This "wave action" just to the south of Chicago should result in an increased chance of rain to the metro area, especially in southernmost locations. A slight cool-down should occur later Wednesday and Thursday as the southern tip of Canadian high pressure reaches into northern Illinois. Low pressure could bring brief warming Friday, another chance of showers early Saturday, and cooler temperatures next weekend.
--By Paul Dailey, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

Cloud cover and showers will probably hold back warming this Veterans Day in Chicago. However a steady south wind will strengthen Monday producing perhaps the first 60° temperatures of this month. Monday’s south winds will also bring much more moisture and fuel the continued redevelopment of rain-producing clouds. A cold front is forecast to move through Chicago Monday and then stall at night, giving another 24 hours of cloud cover and additional rains to the area. Rain should end as cooler and drier air feeds into the Midwest Wednesday.
The Sunday through Tuesday rainfall totals will most likely be significant, probably exceeding an inch in most areas of northeast Illinois, and could end up being Chicago’s highest storm-total rainfall since August. With NW winds both at the lower and upper levels of the atmosphere, temperatures will decline Thursday and Friday, moderating only slightly Saturday.
--By Paul Dailey, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

The cloudiness predicted to filter and eventually hide the sunshine with which Saturday opens is traveling into Chicago's airspace ahead of a weather system expected to bring November's first significant rain. Sprinkles begin late Saturday night then build into steady rainfall expected to continue into Sunday morning. A lingering overcast may brighten a bit Sunday afternoon as the atmosphere dries and higher clouds diminish. But, the sun-obscuring low clouds which linger could still manage a few sprinkles.
The prospect of some rain isn't all bad news. Precipitation here has been in short supply all autumn. The paltry 0.01" which has fallen to date during this month's first nine days makes it one of only eight Novembers since 1871 to open so dry. In the meantime, since meteorological autumn began Sept. 1, the season's 2.93" -- just 42 percent of the 7" considered normal to date -- places it among the four driest Sept. 1-Nov. 9 periods since 1958.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Snow with a southeastbound disturbance covered the ground across parts of northern Wisconsin Friday morning. Our friend and frequent picture-contributor Daniel Hanson shares these shots taken from his home in Winter, Wis. Beautiful shots, Dan -- many thanks!
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Photos courtesy of Daniel Hanson, Winter, Wis.

The chilly weather which lurched into the Chicago area from Canada earlier this week is going nowhere the next few days. NW winds aloft are to keep a supply of cool air coming, promising to make the 11th weekend here since meteorological autumn began Sept. 1 the coolest yet. Hopes for 60s on Sunday (Veterans Day) will be delayed a day (until Monday) as a result of anticipated clouds and scattered showers, expected to fall into initially dry air Sunday and evaporate. The cooling effect of evaporation is evident to us every time we step out of a bathtub or swimming pool and feel the chill which is produced as evaporation absorbs heat from our skin.
The season’s first official snowflakes are on the books in Chicago. Flurries were first observed at O’Hare beginning 10:51 p.m. Wednesday. They continued sporadically for an hour and 49 minutes, finally ending at 12:40 a.m. The city’s first flakes typically arrive October 30.

--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

The Chicago area is in the grip of its coolest air of the past 7 months. Signs of autumn are everywhere. Chicago’s air temperature in the opening week of November has plummeted 33° since the opening week of September as the meteorological fall 2007 season began. Also down is the shoreline Lake Michigan water temperature which has tumbled from 68° Sept. 1 to late Wednesday’s 49° reading—the first lake temperature under 50° since last spring. We’ve bid 183 minutes of daylight goodbye since Sept. 1 and will watch the sun follow a path across the sky Thursday almost a third lower than when the fall season started just over two months ago.
Wednesday’s 43° Chicago high—a reading nearly 10° below normal—was only the city’s second sub-50° high of the season—a tally far behind last fall’s tally of 11 during the same period.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Our friend and meteorological colleague Steve Brown of NBC26 Green Bay, Wisconsin forwards us these shots of the snows which have hit Negauneee, Michigan in the state’s Upper Peninsula in recent days. Steve tells us Negaunee is 10 miles west of Marquette and reports snow was falling steadily Wednesday evening around 9:38 p.m. when the photos were e-mailed. Thanks for sharing these shots with us, Steve!

-Tom Skilling

Photos courtesy: Meteorologist Steve Brown, NBC26 Green Bay

Not since 1983 has a sub-50° temperature arrived so late in the autumn season here. Tuesday’s 45° high, a reading more common in late November rather than early in the month, is the Chicago area’s chilliest in the nearly 7 months since April 12. It was this autumn’s first daytime temperature which failed to reach 50°—a point that the day’s 40 m.p.h. wind gusts drove home.
The Upper Midwest bore the brunt of Tuesday’s truly wintry weather. Howling winds on Lake Superior smashed 15+ ft. waves into the Upper Michigan shoreline at Stannard Rock, to the west of Marquette. There, winds gusted to 64 m.p.h. The gales also delivered the region’s first major snowfall, deepest at higher elevations across the U.P. More than a foot of snow accumulated at Champion, Mich.
By contrast, Phoenix’s record high of 94° Tuesday was its hottest ever so late in the season.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Northwest winds blast the area with 30+ m.p.h. wind gusts a second day Tuesday—but unlike Monday, they do so amid a December-level chill, the likes of which Chicagoans haven’t seen in 7 months. Just how warm it ultimately gets Tuesday will be inextricably tied to the amount of sunshine which emerges through breaks in the day’s clouds. Limited sun promises readings no higher than the 30s while more numerous spells of sun could produce some low 40s.
Monday’s most powerful gusts reached 46 m.p.h. at Gary and 44 m.p.h. at DeKalb and Aurora, but it was Milwaukee which was hardest hit. There, 54 m.p.h. gusts downed street lights and cut power to an estimated 11,000 customers. To the east, the howling gales displaced so much water in Michigan’s Saginaw Bay and in western Lake Erie, mariners were advised to stay in harbor as water levels plunged two feet exposing normally submerged objects.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Our thanks to Scott Berry for this shot of Waukegan Harbor Monday morning.

-Tom Skilling

Photo Courtesy: Scott Berry

The National Weather Service has issued a High Wind Advisory for today with strong westerly winds expected to gust as high as 45 m.p.h. A potent cold front will move through Chicago this morning followed by steadily declining readings this afternoon -- perhaps reaching the upper 30s by evening. Chicagoans will experience the coldest day of the fast-vanishing fall season Tuesday with highs failing to warm out of the 30s, and northwest winds possibly dropping wind chills into the teens tomorrow morning.
Colder yet to the north, howling north winds off Lake Superior are expected to develop heavy lake-enhanced snow over the Upper Michigan Peninsula dumping as much as a foot over higher inland locations later tonight and Tuesday.
The effects of this cold front will be felt all the way to the Gulf of Mexico with daytime highs dropping some 20 to 25 degrees from Monday to Tuesday over a wide area from Texas to the Carolinas.
--By Paul Dailey, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

Chicago’s transition to winter takes another step this week. A cold front moves through northeast Illinois early Monday with the high temperatures for the day most likely occurring just a few hours after sunrise followed by a slow but steady fall in readings the remainder of the day. Tuesday is expected to be very windy and cold with perhaps the first snowflakes in the air. With temperatures struggling to barely reach past the mid 30s and wind gusting in excess of 30 m.p.h., Tuesday’s wind chills could easily drop into the lower to middle 20s. The most frequently observed high temperatures this time of the year are in the 40s and that total should grow substantially this week.
Headed out to sea, but still passing within 100 miles of the Massachusetts’ coastline Saturday evening, the remnants of Noel transformed into a powerful nor’easter producing hurricane-force winds, over 4 inches of rain and 25 to 30 foot seas.

--By Paul Dailey, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

With fall colors visible but past their peak, and temperatures in what has been an amazing run of warmth this season finally in decline, Autumn, 2007 is entering a new phase. Friday's official 32-degree low at O'Hare came 22 days later than the first frost a year ago and closed the books on one of the four longest growing seasons at that site since 1959. A growing season is defined as the period of time between the last frost of spring and the first frost of fall. The 200-day period between frosts this year was 31 days longer than the long-term average of 169 days.
New Englanders are battening down the hatches Saturday. The remnants of Hurricane Noel have evolved into a mammoth, rapidly deepening non-tropical storm paralleling the East Coast moving north. NOAA scientists sent a new pilotless hurricane research airplane into the system Friday to probe the system's 80 m.p.h. low-level wind field. Cape Cod is to be hardest hit Saturday with 60+ m.p.h. gusts and driving rain.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Fall colors are out -- and, in some areas, spectacularly! Other areas are beyond the seasonal color peak but still beautiful. The area pictured here near Water Fall Glen in photos sent to us by Chuck Hagen, is clearly in peak color mode! These are spectacular shots, Chuck!! Thanks for sharing them with us!!
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Thursday marked the 13th day since Sept. 1 during which the area luxuriated in 100% of its possible sunshine. Generous sun combined with reduced cloud cover and extremely limited rains—just 2.92” has fallen here, only a little more than a quarter last year’s 9.89”—has produced the area’s 9th warmest fall in 137 years of records. But Thursday’s temperatures were anything but mild. The day’s 54° tied highs recorded October 10 and 11th as Fall, 2007’s coolest to date. Not since the 53° high more than six months ago on April 27 has it been any cooler in the Chicago area.
Deadly Tropical Storm Noel surged to hurricane strength late Thursday and turned north with its 80 m.p.h. winds. The development leads to the first break in 5 days of beach-eroding northeast winds Friday. But, the storm threatens to become a mammoth non-tropical storm which could batter eastern New England Saturday.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

These spectacular shots of this autumn’s fall colors in Busse Woods come to us from Mike Frankowski. Enjoy! Thanks Mike!!

Tom Skilling

Photo Courtesy: Mike Frankowski