Dear Tom,
On May 26 on the news the weather report mentioned a "pneumonia front"
coming through the Chicago area. What is a pneumonia front?
Michelle Kramer, Elmhurst, Ill.
Dear Michelle,
It's not a technical meteorological term and it has nothing to do with
pneumonia, but a "pneumonia front" refers to a strong
northeast-to-southwest-moving cold front occurring on the western shore of
Lake Michigan in the spring or summer.
It is accompanied by the sudden onset of gusty northeast winds and a sharp
temperature drop at the lake shore, with readings sometimes plummeting from
the 70s into the 40s in less than an hour. Temperature changes are less
abrupt farther inland.
The term was first used by the Milwaukee Weather Bureau Office in the 1960s
and was probably coined by then Meteorologist-in-Charge Rheinhart Harms (who
is also credited with "panhandle hook" and "Alberta clipper").
