WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
FEATURE GRAPHIC: August 2006 Archives
Tuesday’s 87° high at both O’Hare and Midway was the city’s warmest temperature in the 18 days since the 89° high on Aug. 4. While only 7° above normal, only two Aug. 22 daytime highs have been any warmer here in the past 30 years. The 87° reading here was the same high recorded at Oklahoma City Tuesday. But there, the reading was significant because it marked the first time in 56 days readings failed to exceed 90°.
Cordoba, Alaska, on the state’s southern coast, has been swamped by 13” of rain in just the past two days. Like Chicago, August is southern Alaska’s wettest month. But the rains of the past two weeks have been extraordinary from the southeast Alaska Panhandle north to the Alaska Range. Normally the result of typhoon remnants, this year’s rains have been spawned by non-tropical systems and have buried glaciers above the 4,000 ft. level under snow.
-Tom Skilling
The 100% of possible sunshine recorded at Midway Tuesday marked only the 6th day of Chicago’s Meteorological Summer (June 1-Aug. 31) that 100% sunshine was recorded and the only such day in August. Abundant sunshine is expected again today as northeast Illinois remains under the influence of a strong, dry high pressure area that covers the Great Lakes area and is centered over Lower Michigan. Tuesday, the dry air mass led to a large difference in high-low temperature readings that approached 30° well inland, away from the sheltering influence of Lake Michigan and Chicago’s urban “heat island”. However, after a sunny start to the day Thursday, clouds are expected to overspread the Chicago area in advance of an approaching cold front with showers and thunderstorms possible that night. Heavy downpours could result in 1"+ rains at some metro locations Friday.
-Paul Dailey WGNTV Meteorologist
Upper Michigan's Whitefish Bay area was swept last week by this storm. Adam Kern of Highland, Indiana was camping when sudden windshift hit in conjunction with this tumultuous looking shelf-cloud sweeping into the area. Adam shares his photographs of the storm with us. Such clouds form as cool air surging out the leading edge of a thunderstorm cools the air to condensation. High straight-line winds are common beneath such features, part of the thunderstorm's "outflow".
--Tom Skilling
PHOTO COURTESY: Adam Kern
