After a run of tumultuous weather this week, Illinois state climatologist Dr. Jim Angel has confirmed what many flood and storm-plagued northern Illinoisans suspect. August rainfalls averaged across all of northeast Illinois, many in excess of 12" and well beyond the 4.62" considered normal in Chicago, are the heaviest since regional records began in 1895. An average of 11.32" has fallen in an area from Boone to LaSalle County eastward -- including the Chicago metro area. That total surpasses the previous record of 11.02" set in August of 1987.
Individual weather station totals run as high as 16" at southern McHenry County's Huntley, 15.05" at Elgin and 14.19" in rural DeKalb County. Chicago's 9.36" in August at O'Hare Airport is the 2nd wettest of the past 137 years.
The month's tally of thunderstorm days -- 14 -- equals the record for the most August thunderstorm days set back in 1940.
--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.
