Tim: June 2009 Archives

After three days in a row last week with highs in the mid 90s we cool off this week.  The highs expected here over the next two days are more like May highs than late June.  We should get close to 70 today and stay only in the upper 60s tomorrow.

Whether you see the fireworks on the 3rd or 4th of July, it looks like it should be dry and it should be warmer. The forecast calls for a mix of sun and clouds and highs in the lower 80s.

To see how past July 4th holidays have shaped up, click here.

Photo courtesy of the Chicago Tribune.

Our first heat wave of 2009 has buckled pavement and caused power outages.  Our WeatherBug network registered high temperatures in the triple digits yesterday west of the city.  Today should be just as hot or even hotter.  We are starting off a few degrees warmer because of a deck of clouds that drifted over the city last night.  If those clouds thin enough this morning, we could be looking at topping yesterday's highs and approaching record temperatures this afternoon.

Here are some of the high temperatures recorded on our WeatherBug network yesterday:

102 Westfield Community School, Algonquin

102 Hillcrest Elementary School, Elgin

101 F.E. Peacock Middle School, Itasca

100 Geneva Middle School, Geneva

99 Fremd High School, Palatine

For more photos of people beating the heat, check out the Chicago Tribune.

Get set for a muggy Monday.  High humidity will fuel some isolated thunderstorms today.  Earlier this morning nearly 4 inches of rain fell in the town of Mazon down in Grundy County.  While today's storms may be isolated, the ones that do form will be capable of producing some heavy rain. 

Here are some other rain totals for this Monday from our WeatherBug network:

.63" Morris

.57" McHenry

.49" Naperville

.44" South Elgin

Finally, here is the doppler radar rainfall estimate for the day courtesy of the National Weather Service Office in Romeoville:

It will soon be time to break out the old heat index chart.  The heat and humidity will be building towards the end of this week.  Highs will reach into the middle and upper 80s on Thursday and Friday.   The combination of those warm temperatures and expected higher humidity will make it feel like the 90s.  Remember that the heat index combines the temperature with humidity to give us an idea of what it will feel like.  We are expecting the highest heat index values so far this year by the end of the week.  Here is the heat index chart courtesy of the National Weather Service:

What a difference a lake makes!  Lake Michigan's shoreline temperature at 60 is about 5 degrees cooler than this time last year.  The lake has had a profound impact on lakeside temperatures the past few days.  We have seen a spread of about 10 to 15 degrees from our cooler spots near the lake to our warmer spots west of the city.

  Monday's Highs:                        Tuesday's Highs:

Away from the lake                    Away from the lake

 83 St. Charles                            76 Algonquin

  Near the lake                            Near the lake

 72 Waukegan                             61 Wilmette

All those numbers come from combing the Weatherbug data archives.

There will be a wind off the lake through the end of the week so we will continue to see these wide ranges in high temperatures.   The combination of clouds and the wind of the lake will keep us about 10 degrees below average today.  Today's highs will feel more like the middle of May than the middle of June.

A tornado was reported by a trained spotter near Union Grove, just west of Racine, yesterday afternoon.  It was one of five tornadoes reported across the country on Monday.  Our Weatherbug network recorded a gust of 41 mph at Union Grove around 4 PM and a little over an inch of rain.  While we had some severe weather reports yesterday, overall this has been a quiet severe weather season so far.  There have been 716 tornadoes reported in the U.S. this year and that compares with 1088 through the same period last year.  There have been 21 deaths in 2009 from tornadoes and last year there were 126 deaths from tornadoes by the end of June.  There have been deaths reported in 7 states this year.  There have not been any deaths from tornadoes yet in Wisconsin, Illinois or Indiana.

While it felt more like early May than early June the last few days, things could be heating up in the tropics this hurricane season.  The official Atlantic hurricane season began on Monday, June 1st.  Just days into it, forecasters at Colorado State University have revised their forecast for this season.  The new forecast calls for 11 tropical storms with five of those becoming hurricanes.   Two of those five hurricanes are expected to become "major" hurricanes with Category 3 strength or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity.

Summer begins today at least climatologically speaking.  On average, the three warmest months of the year are June, July and August.  Summer could get off to a stormy start today.  The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma has placed much of Illinois and Indiana in a slight risk for severe weather.  There is the potential for some locally heavy rainfall between today, tonight and tomorrow. 

  Be prepared this severe weather season.  A weather radio can be your first line of defense.  WGN-TV and Walgreens have teamed up to offer radios at a reduced price.  Click here to get more details.