Chicago-area weather was a study in contrast Tuesday. Welcome 70-degree
temperatures (the last likely to occur here for a while) surged north,
reaching the area from Aurora east across the southern half of Chicago.
Midway Airport's high was only the second time it reached 70 degrees
this year, and readings as warm as 73 occurred from Naperville to
Kankakee.
Powerhouse southerly winds, stacked vertically tens of thousands of
feet into the atmosphere, were enhanced as showers poked aloft into 70
m.p.h. winds just 3,000 feet above the surface. It's a development
responsible for directing the high winds down to the surface, downing
power lines and trees in scattered areas near Peoria, Springfield and
Macomb. Chicago-area winds gusts reached 52 m.p.h. at Midway just before 5 p.m.
and topped 50 m.p.h. at Lombard and DeKalb.
But as springlike warmth paid the south half of the Chicago area a visit, chilly air off the
lake continued to flood ashore in north lakeshore communities. The chill contributed to
waves of heavy rainfall, which exceeded 2 inches by 10 p.m. in Rockford (2.02 inches, a
record for the date). To the north in Wisconsin, Stoughton and Madison were swamped
by 2.81-inch and 2.50-inch totals.
Dakotas' snows stack up to nearly 3 feet!
Snow continues Wednesday in eastern North Dakota but diminishes to the west after
accumulating as much as 30 inches near South Dakota's Black
Hills.
