A raging late season blizzard dropped nearly four feet of snow on the Black Hills area of South Dakota Wednesday bringing traffic to a standstill as winds gusting to more than 70 m.p.h. piled the snow into huge drifts.
By late Wednesday, Deadwood, north of Rapid City had measured 46" of snow.
In contrast, mild, tranquil weather prevailed in the Chicago area Wednesday with temperatures in the 70s and more of the same is on tap for today. The quiet pattern is providing a welcome change from an active severe weather season in Illinois. So far this year 44 twisters have struck in central Illinois, many in the Springfield area, compared to only 2 at this time in 2005. Two years ago on this date the weather was anything but quiet, as more than a dozen twisters swept areas from LaSalle County to Chicago’s southern suburbs, including the F3 Utica tornado that tragically took eight lives.
-Steve Kahn WGNTV Meteorologist
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
