Fall was definitely in the air Wednesday. Chicago’s 67° high was the city’s coolest temperature in 3 months—since 64° on June 5. The official daybreak low of 46° just missed the 1955 record of 44° for the date. But across the North Woods—i.e. northern Wisconsin and Minnesota—the chill broke long-standing records, several a half-century old. Rice Lake, Wisconsin bottomed out at 34° while Rice Lake, Minnesota’s temperature reached a bone-chilling 23°. Lows of 28° and 29° at International Falls and Duluth early Wednesday—both in Minnesota—broke records dating back to 1975 and 1955 respectively.
The 2007 hurricane season’s 8th named storm developed quickly Wednesday 60 miles south/southwest to Galveston, Texas, fueled by near bathtub-warm mid-80° Gulf of Mexico waters. WeatherBug sensors mounted on oil rigs 30 miles offshore clocked wind of 59 m.p.h. while measuring 4+” of rain.
-By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist
