EXPLAINER: October 2007 Archives

Chicagoans haven’t experienced an October milder than the one just completed in 36 years—since 1971. The month finished with an average temperature of 60.4° at Midway Airport—a reading well above the 54.1° October average since 1928. Only four Octobers have been milder there in the past 80 years.
This autumn’s mild, dry character is typical of a Niña autumn. La Niñas are declared when ocean temps in the central equatorial Pacific drop 0.5° or more below normal over three consecutive months, a shift which produces weather changes globally. Among them is the tendency for autumns to be mild and dry over a huge swath of the country. Winters can be a different story. La Niña winters have been known to turn wetter in the Midwest, roughly from Chicago south. And, while temps in these winters often average above normal, La Niña winters can be volatile—featuring spells of bitter cold interspersed with spells of mild Pacific air.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Powerful NE winds rake Florida a fourth consecutive day Wednesday, threatening to worsen beach erosion already being characterized as extreme in Palm Beach County by the National Weather Service. Winds topped 40 m.p.h. on the state’s east coast Tuesday, sending 6-8 ft. breakers into area beaches while generating 14-18 ft. swells offshore. Pounding waves collapsed a retaining wall on the coast at Lantana, just south of West Palm Beach, and the relentless gales pushed tides at Jacksonville Beach 4.6 feet above sea level, sending sea water across backyards near Oak Landing.
The winds were not directly related to Tropical Storm Noel, which churned along the north Cuban Coast Tuesday. Instead, the huge variation in air pressure between Noel and a sprawling high pressure to the north, produced an environment for a huge swath of easterly winds which swept much of the Southeast coastline—not just Florida.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Tuesday's gusty southwest winds deliver the 40th day of 70-degree-plus temperatures since Sept. 1 in what has been one of this area's mildest autumns here. With the three-month meteorological fall season (September-November) nearing the two-thirds mark, Chicago's 63.9-degree average temperature to date ranks 8th warmest of 137 comparable periods on the books since weather records began in 1871. Daily temperatures have averaged above normal 78 percent of the time the past 59 days.
Florida and much of the Southeast Coast is being pounded by a nor'easter. Huge barometric pressure variations between a sprawling high pressure off New England and late-season Tropical Storm Noel, which moved from Haiti into the South Atlantic Monday, are whipping up the 40-50 m.p.h. coastal gusts and towering 1-2 story waves predicted to continue over Florida’s east coast Tuesday. Northwest-bound Noel could pass within 130 miles of Miami on Wednesday.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

A strong southwest flow will establish itself over Illinois today and persist through Tuesday into Wednesday. Chicago's high temperatures today may end up some 10 degrees higher than the mid 50s experienced Sunday. On Tuesday, the warming will continue with unseasonable 70-degree readings forecast. On Halloween, some cloudiness may precede and accompany a cold front that is not expected to pass through Chicago until later in the afternoon. A much cooler air mass should then be in place the remainder of the week.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Noel formed just south of Hispaniola, and Sunday night the National Hurricane Center in Miami forecasted a slow-moving northward track which left Haiti, the Dominican Republic, southeast Cuba and Jamaica bracing for a foot or more of rain, extensive flooding and mudslides. Haiti was under a Tropical Storm Warning, and a Tropical Storm Warning and Hurricane Watch were in effect for southeastern Cuba.
--By Paul Dailey, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

This autumn has not only been characterized by warm daytime temperatures, but by exceptionally mild nights as well. Before Sunday morning’s frosty lows, the city’s lowest official minimum temperature this fall had been just 39º and that was recorded more than a month ago on Sept. 15. Frost had been limited to some scattered occurrences at far inland locations.
All that is changing this week, as two more intrusions of cold air will bring some of the season’s lowest daytime readings, and frosty overnight lows as well. Some frost will be possible again Sunday night away from the heat of the city.
However, sandwiched between the cold snaps, a midweek warm-up will boost the mercury back into the 60s on Tuesday and Wednesday, raising prospects for another mild Halloween—a frequent occurrence here in recent years. Ten of the last 12 Halloweens have been warmer than normal.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

This ninth weekend of meteorological autumn is to end up the season's chilliest to date -- 22 degrees below last weekend's temperatures which included an unseasonable late-season 80 degree Sunday high. Northerly winds -- in effect a 3,000-mile atmospheric conveyor belt extending from the northernmost tip of Hudson Bay south to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula -- are encouraging chilly air to spill southward off northern Canada's growing snowpack into the U.S. A mammoth Canadian high pressure is behind the gusty 20 m.p.h.-plus north winds raking Chicago and much of the Midwest and is expected to import enough dry air Saturday afternoon that the area's sprinkly morning cloud deck should break.
The incoming chill set new low temperature records in the Pacific Northwest Friday in Seattle (35 degrees) and Pendleton, Ore. (22 degrees).
Though cool in Chicago Saturday, city residents shivered even more a year ago when the high only reached 45 degrees.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Chilly weather intensifies its grip on the area this weekend. The area is headed for its coolest Saturday/Sunday period in the 7 months since last April—a far cry from last weekend’s unseasonable 73° and 80° highs. The coming weekend’s temperatures will average more than 20° colder.
The meteorological autumn period which began Sept. 1 has been so warm that the other shoe eventually had to drop. The city hasn’t recorded a sub-40° temperature at Midway or O’Hare yet this month. That’s the first time Chicago’s advanced this far into October without a reading falling into the 30s or lower in 44 years. (Note: Normally cooler suburban areas have been cooler than in the city and low 30s have been reported in recent days. There’s been patchy frost in far western suburbs—e.g. in DeKalb County.)
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

October, until recently among the 7 warmest here since records began in 1871, has shifted meteorological gears in dramatic fashion. That was evident to anyone who braved Wednesday’s chilly temperatures amid wind gusts which topped 35 m.p.h. at times. The day’s 55° high was the coolest in two weeks and the second coolest daytime temperature of Fall, 2007 to date. By this time a year ago, fall had already produced 11 days as cool or cooler than Wednesday. October alone had averaged 11° cooler than the 61.4° on the books for the month’s opening 24 days this year.
What’s happened to Chicago’s temps in recent days—and what is predicted to occur in terms of temperatures over the coming two weeks—is stunning when compared to October’s opening week which averaged more than 13° above normal. By comparison, the coming week is predicted to run 3° below normal with a 1° deficit in week #2 as November gets underway.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Heavy rains walloped the southern Midwest Tuesday, swamping sections of Kentucky with as much as 5” of rain. Totals across the Blue Grass State included 4.13” at Lexington, 5.02” at Versailles, 4.62” at Ft. Campbell and 3.62” at Louisville.
Downstate Illinois got in on the rainfall bonanza tallying 1.41” at Vienna and 1.31” at Mt. Vernon. Clouds on the north flank of the wet system shrouded Chicago’s southern suburbs at the same time that uninterrupted sun poured down on the northwest half of the metro area. The cloud distribution led to a situation where southern areas warmed no higher than the low 50s while sunnier north suburban locations like Gurnee logged a 62° high.
California’s devastating wildfires spread amid howling winds and record heat Tuesday. Temps reached 100° at Anaheim, 99° at Santa Ana, Fullerton Airport and Costa Mesa.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

The meteorological party ended Monday. Temperatures, which only a day earlier surged to 80°, plummeted 30° by late Monday when readings hovered in the upper 40s and low 50s across the area—levels much closer to seasonal norms.
Sunshine returns Tuesday but the area is to remain locked in a cooler weather regime for the foreseeable future with clouds and rain next due late Thursday.
The heavens opened in New Orleans Monday producing extensive flooding. The thundery downpours reached 9” late Monday at Lacombe, La. (9.07”) and Picayune, Miss. (9.06”). One rain gauge in New Orleans proper indicated 7.37”.
The storm behind that Gulf Coast cloudburst is to bring desperately needed rain to the sections of the drought-ravaged interior Southeast. More than 4” is predicted from northern Mississippi and Alabama north to Tennessee over the next 5 days.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

It should come as no surprise that Fall 2007, with its abundance of warm days, currently ranks 6th warmest out of 137 meteorological autumns since 1871. Sunday's average temperature of 70 degrees was 20 degrees above normal, and the city's 80 degree high marked only the 30th such 80-degree-plus occurrence this late in the season here.
However, weather patterns are showing signs of change, and a temperature decline beginning Monday afternoon will return readings here to near or below normal through the end of the month, though no exceptionally cold weather is expected.
Warm weather also covered much of the eastern U.S. Sunday, where several record highs were broken or tied, among them 81 degrees at Detroit, 80 degrees at Youngstown, Ohio, and 92 degrees at Midland, Texas. Hot 90-degree-plus weather is also forecast for parts of southern California Monday, where powerful northeast Santa Ana winds gusting to more than 80 m.p.h. are spreading more than a dozen wildfires.
--By Steve Kahn, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

An intensifying storm in the Upper Mississippi Valley will not only boost temperatures here to rare 80º territory Sunday, but it will generate very strong south winds with gusts in excess of 40-45 m.p.h. If Sunday’s high reaches 80º, it will mark the latest such occurrence here in eight years (since 80º on Oct. 28, 1999).
While Chicago has been graced with warmer than normal weather much of October, residents are well aware that approaching late autumn’s chill cannot be too far away. Temps will crash Monday afternoon as winds shift into the northeast with highs the rest of the week to be at more seasonable levels hovering near 60º. An even stronger cool-down is expected by next weekend with readings struggling to reach 50º by Saturday.
A National Weather Service storm survey team investigated the devastating twister that struck Nappanee, Ind., Thursday evening, rating it an EF-3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale with 136-165 m.p.h. peak winds.
---By Steve Kahn, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

Days have been shortening here for over three months. By Saturday's close, Chicagoans will have witnessed the loss of four hours and 20 minutes of daylight, and can expect another hour and 14 minutes to vanish in the coming month. Saturday's 6:02 p.m. sunset is nearly 2-1/2 hours earlier than the 8:29 sunset on June 21 -- the day summer began and this area's longest day of the year. Remarkably, despite that loss of daylight and the resulting reduction in solar energy, this 8th weekend of meteorological autumn is to be unusually mild.
Temperatures will average 14 degrees above last weekend -- the season's coolest to date. Included in the warm-up is a predicted high of 80 degrees Sunday, a reading rare this time of the year. Just 0.3 percent of the 80 degree and warmer temperatures on the books here have occurred this late in the season. The city has logged 9,211 highs in excess of 80 degrees since records began -- and only 29 of them have occurred beyond Oct. 20.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Downbursts occur when cool air plunges earthward out of thunderstorms, often during driving downpours. Once making contact with the ground, the powerful winds fan out in all directions, setting up the powerful straight-line winds so many of us associate with t-storms. Winds hit 60 m.p.h. in the Loop in a downburst late Thursday. It was captured by WGN time-lapse cameras on the Hancock Building. The footage is posted on the wgntv.com website.
Winds reached 74 m.p.h. as they roared offshore at the Harrison-Dever Crib just off the Chicago shoreline. Other thunderstorm wind gusts late Thursday reached 72 m.p.h. at Midlothian. The storms bombarded parts of Joliet with golfball size hail (1.75” in diameter). During the evening, the t-storms spread east into Indiana and Michigan, where a late night tornado (9:25 p.m.) south of South Bend seriously damaged homes and caused injuries.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Lines of powerful thunderstorms, which appeared in the ominous bow shaped configuration on Doppler radars across the Plains, wreaked havoc Wednesday, injuring scores and knocking out power to entire communities. A dozen twisters had been tallied by NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center late Wednesday evening among the more than 138 reports of severe weather.
In Oklahoma, 63 m.p.h. winds collapsed a tent injuring 40 in Tulsa, and rescuers in Woodall worked to free residents trapped by downed powerlines.
A late season severe weather outbreak threatens Chicago with high winds after a night of thundery downpours and could spawn an outbreak of afternoon t-storms capable of generating microbursts and even twisters over at least sections of the Chicago area. Since 1950, October has hosted only 12% of this area’s severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.

--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Wednesday’s mixed sunshine comes just a day after the area’s far western suburbs were hit with 2”+ rains—the biggest in over 7 weeks. It may literally be the calm before the storm. Computer models project a rapidly intensifying low pressure system is to assemble over the Plains. Air drawn aloft into a powerful jet stream leads to strengthening southerly winds which by Thursday are to be stacked vertically tens of thousands of feet through the atmosphere above Chicago. The howling flow—whistling through Chicago airspace at 60+ m.p.h. only 2,000 ft. above ground—sweeps 70°+ warmth and moist 65°+ dew point air into the area and is likely to feed waves of showers and t-storms. It’s beyond that point at which there is the greatest concern for severe weather.
Only 12% of the tornadoes and severe t-storms here since 1950 have occurred in autumn months. Thursday’s weather will have to be monitored.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

The chill which hit late last week—the first extended spell of cool weather this autumn—cleared the Chicago area Monday allowing temps to surge into the 70s—levels to which they’ll return Wednesday, Thursday and again Sunday. Monday’s 74° at O’Hare and 77° at Midway marked the ninth time this month the mercury has reached or exceeded 70°-—more than the 137 year average of eight 70s in a full October. By comparison, half that number-—only five 70s—had occurred last year through October 16. The first half of the month is 10.3° warmer than the same period a year ago.
The warmth is just part of an autumn which has been extraordinarily dry. It’s allowed farmers to proceed with this fall’s harvest ahead of schedule. Veteran Will County farmer John Hazzard reports that he was able to bring in nearly 200 bushels per acre. That’s far more than the usual 160-180 bushels per acre. Good weather, John reports, went a long way toward making it happen.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

After four cloudy and chilly days with highs in the 50s, the mercury finally broke 60 degrees in the city Sunday, while readings in the south suburbs surged into the lower 70s. Although this week's highs will fall far short of the unseasonable 80-degree-plus warmth featured in October's opening days, a preponderance of southerly winds should keep this week's maximums in the 60s and 70s, with most days at levels substantially above the typical mid-October highs in the lower 60s.
The week should also feature much-needed rainfall. Due to lackluster precipitation since late August, Chicago area soils are drying out, and moisture replenishment would be welcome before cold weather sets in. With frequent weather systems slated to pass through the region this week, the potential for significant rainfall is greater than it has been for quite a while. Sunday's rain was heaviest across north portions of the metro area. Heavier totals included 0.39" at Waukegan and Vernon Hills.
--By Steve Kahn, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

The recent string of cloudy and chilly days following this October’s unseasonably warm open was a reality check for many Chicagoans, reminding them that the seasonal transition into winter is well under way. Chicago is entering the historical window for this area’s growing-season-ending freezes and is only a little more than two weeks away from the Oct. 30 average date of first snow flurries.
However, Chicago’s “fall into winter” will be placed on hold again in the upcoming week as temperatures are expected to rebound to quite mild levels for the season, reaching the lower 70s on at least two occasions.
The warmth will be accompanied by a noticeable increase in humidity and raise the specter of several periods of showers and t-storms that could bring some welcome rainfall to an increasingly parched landscape. Rain has been sparse here since the deluges of August, making this fall the 16th driest here since 1871.
--By Steve Kahn, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

Temperatures rebound a bit Saturday and Sunday to more typical mid-October levels before surging into the 70s for a day on Monday. Despite that predicted early week temperature spike, none of Chicago's high temperatures over the coming week are predicted to come anywhere close to the 87 degree highs recorded last Saturday and Sunday.
Temperatures this weekend will run 25 degrees cooler than the same period a week ago. It's a stunning change and one which won't be lost on area residents.
Meteorological Fall 2007 is now six weeks old, and it remains one of the area's warmest and driest of the past 137 years. Temperatures since Sept. 1 are running 4 degrees warmer than the city's long-term average since 1871.
Rainfall since Sept. 1 is more than a half a foot (6.20") below the same period a year ago, and measurable rain has fallen in Chicago on eight days -- far less than the 13 considered normal by this date.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist
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Chicagoans, who until Wednesday had experienced 23 consecutive days of above normal temperatures, shiver through a third day of 50s Friday. Though the chill is more typical of November than mid-October, it pales in comparison to conditions a year ago when the high struggled to reach 39° and the area was hit by its first measurable snow of the season—0.3” of it.
Though weather records indicate the first three-day string of 50s has historically held off another week, chilly temps aren’t a novelty this early in autumn. Back-to-back highs of 54° or lower—similar to those observed here Wednesday and Thursday—have occurred in 17 of the past 48 years.
Cool as the current air mass is, frost is far from a certainty over much of the metro area given the expectation of high clouds Friday night. NW suburban areas appear at greatest risk for any frost.
-By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Autumn’s chilliest air, which only days ago roamed Canada’s partially snow-covered tundra 1,700 miles to the north, delivers a second and third day of November-level 50s here Thursday and Friday. The chill, interacting with Lake Michigan’s comparatively warm waters, activated lake-effect rain showers in western Michigan and northeast Wisconsin Wednesday—rains which have shifted overnight into Indiana. Projected winds suggest those rain showers may end up swiping sections of extreme northeast Illinois Thursday—in particular eastern Lake and Cook Counties. But it’s northwest Indiana which is the target of the heaviest, most prolonged lake rains. Several computer forecast models, which aid forecasters in predicting small scale weather features, indicate some 0.50"+ rain totals are possible in Porter and LaPorte Counties before the lake-effect set-up breaks down Friday morning.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Wednesday’s blustery winds, combined with the chilliest temperatures since last April, are likely to jar many Chicagoans. The cool air arrives on the heels of one of the warmest October opens on the books. A buckling jet stream, the product of the northward flood of mild air ahead of a powerful landfalling Pacific storm, has developed a ridge aloft. Steering winds riding up and over that ridge have tapped the pool of chilly air collecting over northern Canada’s increasingly snow- covered tundra, forcing it south into the Midwest.
Wednesday’s predicted 53° high—a reading more typical of early November than Oct. 10—represents this area’s biggest three-day October high temperature plunge in 10 years. It was only Monday that readings here surged to 87°. Not since readings tumbled from 82° to 49° in Chicago between Oct. 12-14, 1997 have daytime temps here lost so much ground so quickly.

-By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

If you are among the Chicagoans who suspect October’s unseasonable warmth has been unusual, new statistics back your assertion. While O’Hare’s 70.3° average temperature the opening eight days of October ranks third warmest since official records began here, Midway Airport’s 72.7° average is even more impressive. Not only does it illustrate the so-called urban heat island effect—the reading is 2.4° warmer over the same period than at O’Hare—it’s the South Side site’s warmest Oct. 1-8 since weather observations began there in 1928.
Monday’s 87° at O’Hare fell just 1° short of the day’s 1997 record. The warmth was part of an air mass which led to record breaking highs across sections of 17 states from Illinois to Washington, D.C. The 91° high at Indianapolis was the city’s warmest ever in October.
The National Weather Service-Chicago thanks the 1,200 visitors who turned out for Saturday’s Open House.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

The Oct. 7 record high of 86 degrees set 60 years ago in Chicago was exceeded yesterday by a degree at O'Hare Airport and by at least that number at many other locations around the metro area. The record hot and humid conditions unfortunately coincided with the 30th running of the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon.
While southerly winds, warmth and humidity again greet Chicagoans today, increasing cloudiness, showers, and a wind shift to the west later this afternoon will signal the beginning of a change to much more fall-like weather. Temperatures will slowly drop the following 24 hours with the coldest air scheduled to hit northeast Illinois Wednesday. Highs Wednesday will struggle to hit the mid 50s -- more than 30 degrees cooler than the highs experienced over this past weekend. The remainder of the week will average about 3 degrees below normal. Longer-range projections indicate warmer-than-normal readings the following week.
--By Paul Dailey, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

It depends upon how much cloudiness develops, but with enough sunshine Sunday’s high temperature could reach into the upper 80s, exceeding the existing record 86° high set on this date back in 1947. Even without the record the day will be very warm and humid, with the morning temperatures just prior to the start of the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon expected to be in the lower 70s. If that is the case, another record—this one set ninety-three years ago—will be broken. The record high low temperature for October 7th was 66 degrees set back in 1914. Clouds will increase from the west, and the approach of a cold front should trigger showers and thunderstorms later Monday. Colder Canadian high pressure will move into the Midwest Tuesday with the core of coldest air over NE Illinois Wednesday and Thursday. A drop of some 30° in high temperatures from today’s upper 80s to Wednesday’s forecast mid 50s is possible.
--By Paul Dailey, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

Friday's high temperatures ran in the mid 80s around the metro area except for cooler conditions along the Lake Michigan shoreline. If highs reach the upper 80s both today and Sunday as forecast, readings will average over 20 degrees above normal. This weekend would go down as the warmest in eight weeks -- dating back to the weekend of Aug. 11-12 -- and it would be the 4th warmest weekend of the entire year. This warmth is so unusual that the Cubs are actually coming back to continue the playoffs in a warmer location: Phoenix is expecting highs only in the low to mid 80s.
Sunday's 30th annual LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon will most likely be run under the warmest conditions ever with runners advised to guard against potential overheating, cramping or other heat-related maladies. A cold frontal passage Monday will usher in much cooler air with highs expected to be 20 to 25 degrees cooler for the rest of the week.
--By Paul Dailey, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

As south winds flowing up the back side of blocking high pressure along the east coast bring unseasonable warmth to the mid sections of the country, cold air wrapping around a deep low pressure pattern unleashes heavy snows over portions of the the Rockies. Six to 12-inch snows are forecast for Glacier Park in NW Montana and high elevations of western Wyoming today. July-like heat and humidity will build over northeast Illinois this weekend with Saturday’s Wrigley Field game time temperatures for the Cub-Diamondback playoff only some 5° lower than the 90° readings experienced by those baseball clubs in Phoenix Wednesday and Thursday. Sunday’s 30th running of the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon may be the warmest ever with 8 a.m. CDT starting time temperatures forecast to be 5° above the normal high temperature for that date. Significant cooling is not expected before next Tuesday.
--By Paul Dailey, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

Chicago lies in the heart of a corridor of strengthening southerly wind flow, surface and aloft, that is set to deliver temperatures more typical of July than October. Today’s expected maximum temperature of 83º brings the city’s year-to-date total of 80º+ days to 97, with four additional 80º+ days expected. The all-time record is 103 days (2005).
Lost in the shuffle of Chicago’s spell of unseasonably warm afternoon temperatures is this fact: It’s going to be uncomfortably warm—and humid —at night as well. An examination of 48 years (1959-2006) of Chicago’s temperature records as measured at O’Hare reveals that overnight minimum temperatures have managed to remain above 69º on only two occasions this late in the season: 70º on Oct. 21, 1979, and 71º on Oct. 4, 2005. If forecasts verify, that two-day tally will double with 70º expected Friday night and 71º Saturday night.
--By Richard Koeneman, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

Today's readings in the middle 70s (8 degrees above normal) are easy enough to take in mid autumn -- but break out the ice cubes and fire up the air conditioner because real warmth arrives tomorrow, then grows even stronger on Friday and Saturday.
Before cooler air finally arrives early next week, Chicago's afternoon temperatures are forecast to climb above 80 degrees for four consecutive days. That won't challenge the October record (eight consecutive 80-degree-plus days, Oct. 15-22, 1953), but it's a feat that has occurred here only 12 times in 79 years.
Oct. 3 is an auspicious day in weather history. Bagdad, Calif., is a settlement just to the south of Death Valley. A little bit of rain fell at Bagdad on Oct. 2, 1912, and the 3rd was dry -- and thus began the longest totally rain-free period ever recorded in the United States. Absolutely no rain fell there for 767 days -- slightly over two years -- beginning on today's date in 1912.
--By Richard Koeneman, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist

The weather forecasts continue to offer conditions more typical of August than early October: temperatures in the 70s and 80s, humid and gusty south winds and several thunderstorms in the mix.
The atmosphere is primed to generate strong thunderstorms this afternoon in the Great Plains, and the somewhat weakened remnants of those storms are forecast to sweep into Chicago, arriving here late tonight. They are likely to be copious rain producers, and one-inch rain totals are not out of the question. Beyond that, warm and humid air persists through midweek.
The tropics, currently rather quiet, might not remain that way much longer. The National Hurricane Center continues to monitor an area of low pressure between Florida and the Bahamas.
This system has some potential for tropical or subtropical storm development in the next couple of days as it moves generally to the west at 10 to 15 m.p.h.
--By Richard Koeneman, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist