Rainfall topped one inch at a number of locations Tuesday, the biggest tallies since
0.82 inches fell at O'Hare International Airport on Sept. 29. The clouds and precipitation
cut deeply into daytime warming, limiting Chicago's high to 63-degrees. The heaviest
preliminary totals at Weather Bug rain gauges in the area included 1.02 inches at
Palatine, 0.89 inches at Oak Lawn, 0.82 inches at Evergreen Park and 1.18 inches at
LaPorte, Ind. COOP Patrick Skach in Oak Brook reported 0.81 inches through 9 p.m. --
and it was still raining. O'Hare's rain tally of 0.54 inches through 8 p.m. pushed the
meteorological autumn tally (since Sept. 1) to 14.24 inches -- the heaviest in 138 years
of official Chicago weather records.
MILD MARATHON AHEAD SUNDAY -- BUT 12 TO 14 DEGREES BELOW A YEAR
AGO
Cold air crashes into the West in coming days setting the stage for big northern
Rockies snows, but warming Chicago into the 70s this weekend. The pattern includes
milder than normal Chicago Marathon weather Sunday -- though cooler than last
year's heat-plagued event which was suspended after 3.5 hours.
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune
