Hurricane Rita, once a behemoth in the world of tropical cyclones, exited the U.S. with a meteorological whimper late Monday. Gone were the 175 m.p.h. winds which once sliced the tops off 30 foot waves in the Gulf of Mexico late last week, then hurled a devastating 15 ft. storm surge against the Louisiana Coast, submerging much of the state’s southwestern lowlands in the process. The storm’s entanglement with a 125 m.p.h. jet stream—once predicted not to occur—spared the Deep South what could have been a prolonged, catastrophic rain. By early Monday, what was left of the system’s fragmented center raced past Chicago only 80 miles to the south, having produced more than 2” of rain at downstate Scott Air Force base before dousing sections of Upstate New York with up to 4” of rain before exiting by way of the St. Lawrence Seaway.
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
