Chicago braces for an encounter with Hurricane Gustav's rainy, blustery remnants
Thursday. The storm's impact across the central U.S. has been ongoing since landfall
early Tuesday. Rains in Arkansas on Wednesday alone approached 7 inches at Bee
Branch and 5.89 inches at Jacksonville. The system is responsible for 49 twisters from
Lousiana to Arkansas since coming ashore -- and severe storms are a possibility as far
north as central Illinois and Indiana on Thursday.
For Chicago, Gustav means rain and possibly a good deal of it. Of 26 computer
projections of rainfall here through Friday night, 23 indicated amounts exceeding 2
inches. The average of all estimates topped 3 inches with several in the 4- to 5-inch
range. A tally of 3 inches or more would make this the heaviest official rain event in the
city since 3.20 inches fell on April 30-May 1, 2003.
Since 1900, the remnants of 15 landfalling tropical storms and hurricanes have passed
within 100 miles of Chicago.
2008'S HEAT NOT DONE JUST YET DESPITE COOLER SHORT-TERM
PATTERN
Hot weather -- days with high temps of at leats 90 degrees -- may not be finished yet.
Since 1928, 49 years have produced a 90∞ or higher temp beyond Sept. 4 in Chicago.
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune
