An unseasonable surge of 70° warmth into downstate Illinois Tuesday—30 degrees above normal and the highest readings there since November—aided the development of thunderstorms in parts of the Chicago area. By 4:22 p.m. Tuesday, lightning and thunder were observed at O’Hare Airport—the first time that’s happened in February since 2001.
Tuesday’s rainfall, totaling 0.36” at Midway Airport, pushed the month’s total to 1.58”—nearly the total amount of precipitation which has fallen in Chicago over the past three Februarys combined (1.78”).
More impressive is the 6.90” of rain which has fallen at the South Side site since the first of the year. Never, in 77 years of Midway weather observations (dating back to 1928), have the first 45 days of a year opened any wetter. It’s little wonder rivers at a number of locations across the Midwest are out of their banks.
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
