Meteorological Summer 2008 has moved into its 6th week with an overall temperature
surplus (about 1.5 degrees) but with its surprising lack of truly hot days still intact. It's
single 90-degree high ranks it with only three other summers since 1928 with so few
90s this late in the season. The warm season to date has registered only 28 days in the
80s -- a 28 percent reduction from the 39 days recorded a year ago. Tuesday's
85-degree high temperature and steamy 70-degree Gulf Coast-level dew points ignited
several downpour-generating late afternoon thunderstorms. In Oak Brook, one
downpour from a towering thunderhead, scanned by area radars at 40,000 feet high,
unloaded 0.68 of an inch of rain in 50 minutes. Midway Airport was hit with 0.25 of an
inch in just 14 minutes.
Hurricane Bertha encountered wind shear -- shifting wind direction and speeds with
height -- which stole a bit of the storm's punch. Sustained winds dropped to 85 m.p.h.
-- further weakening is predicted
WILDFIRE-RAVAGED CALIFORNIA SIZZLES WITH 110-DEGREE INLAND HIGHS
Temperatures hit 111 degrees at Lancaster and Paso Robles -- and 110-degrees at
Palmdale in California -- all records.
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune
