A second wave of powerful t-storms erupted late Wednesday battering sections of the area with 60 m.p.h. winds while unloading as much as 1.60” of rain near SW suburban Marseilles. Waves of storms to Chicago’s north in recent days have left La Crosse and Madison, Wisc. reeling with 12.23” and 13.33” August rain tallies—amounts which have exceeded all previous August records and now stand as new all-time monthly precipitation highs.
Wednesday evening’s storms, which generated dazzling cloud to ground lightning—4,500 cloud to ground strokes within a 200 mile radius of Chicago in just ten minutes—followed Chicago’s first 90° high in 15 days.
Predawn t-storms Wednesday sent 50 m.p.h. winds roaring across the area and out over Lake Michigan. The waves generated there were reflected from Michigan/Indiana back to Chicago’s shoreline, giving rise to a series of minor seiches (lake-level fluctuations.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
