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Dear Tom,
My husband is interested in the period of the year knowing when the sun reaches at least 45 degrees above the horizon. When will that take place?
Deborah and Neil Levin

Dear Deborah and Neil,
The noon sun in Chicago finally will reach an elevation 45 degrees above the horizon, the halfway point between the horizon and the zenith, on Friday.

Over the course of the year the highest daily sun elevation varies from a low point of 24.7 degrees on the winter solstice to a peak of 71.6 degrees on the summer solstice.

At 11:51 a.m. Friday, the sun will be at an elevation of 45 degrees and remain there for about 21 minutes. At 12:02 p.m. Sept. 30, the peak sun elevation will drop below 45 degrees and not regain that 45-degree peak until 11:36 a.m. March 13, 2011.

Dear Tom,
Several years ago you had a WGN radio conversation with the late Bob Collins in which you spoke about "deep winter". Is there a time frame for that?
Dr. Douglas Squiers  Kalamazoo, Michigan

Dear Dr. Squiers,
That was a long time ago but I was referring to a loosely-defined period of time from mid January to early February. Often referred to as "the dead of winter", these dates historically bring Chicago its heaviest snows and lowest temperatures. Some of the city's most extreme winter events have occurred during this time span, including the 23 inch "Big Snow" of Jan. 26-27, 1967, the Jan. 12-14 "Blizzard of '79" that was followed by the 29 inch record deep snow cover, and the all-time record low of minus 27 degrees on Jan. 20, 1985. Chicago has logged more subzero weather in February's opening four days than in any other time of the winter.


 

This video of Wednesday's devastating Chesterton, Indiana tornado was forwarded to us late Thursday from its photographer Paul Ronjak. A National Weather Service survey team investigating the widespread damage in the northwest Indiana community confirmed Thursday that a tornado--not straight line winds---had caused the destruction in Chesterton. The team categorized the damage as consistent with an EF2 twister possessing peak winds of 120 m.p.h. Its damage path was 60 yards wide and 2.5 miles long, according to NWS investigators. Paul Ronjak tells us this video of the storm was shot near Indian Boundary Road and Rt. 49 as the storm churned into Chesterton downing huge trees and ripping roofs off buildings. It clearly shows the rotating wall cloud beneath which the tornado developed. A Weather Bug sensor in Chesterton had measured a 105 m.p.h. gust as the storm hit Wednesday evening before going off line. MANY THANKS to Paul for sharing this with us! It's a remarkable piece of tape! Tom Skilling

Rich Raddatz sends us these photos and a video of the tornado that briefly touched down in McHenry and Lake counties on Thursday (July 30). Rich notes how rapidly conditions changed in about a minute, as winds grew strong enough to knock down his flag! Thanks Rich!









Photos and video link courtesy of Rich Raddatz

Thomas Nava of Chicago sent us this video of Thursday's storm.He tells us:

Severe thunderstorm with high winds and hail hit Chicago's northwest side around 5:15pm on Thursday, July 23, 2009. Heavy rainfall up to 2 inches fell.

Alma and Greg Jones from Aurora, Ill., were traveling North on Route 39 back home when they spotted this swirling funnel cloud in the sky around 6:30pm Sunday evening, July 5.

Greg said they were traveling North on Route 39 just a few miles West and South of 88 when they saw the thin funnel cloud drop and swirl in the sky. "It was so close we just had to get these pictures and video," Greg said. "Hope you enjoy them and can use them." We certainly are enjoying the video. Thanks for sharing it, Greg and Alma!

Our thanks to Rusty Kapela, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Sullivan, Wis., for sharing this video with us taken by Co-op Observer Josh Herman of Oshkosh, Wis.

Josh writes, "Here is my version of 'taking a cup of boiling hot water and hoisting it into the air as hard, fast and high as you can, and it will become an instant cloud of vapor.' The video was taken in Oshkosh, Wis. on Friday, Jan 16, 2009, at around 7 a.m. Temperature was -13°F."

Thanks Rusty and Josh for sharing this with us!
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune

Source: Rusty Kapela, National Weather Service-Sullivan and Josh Herman, COOP Observer, Oshkosh, Wisconsin