WEATHER EVENTS: July 2006 Archives

Midway Airport storm photo courtesy of Dom Mancuso

Waves of powerful thunderstorms, which produced tree-downing wind gusts and flooded Chicago and a northwest-to-southeast corridor 30-40 miles across from Rockford to Chicago to the Indiana Dunes and Valparaiso areas of northwest Indiana, knocked power out to tens of thousands in the Chicago metro area. Trees were down in Carpentersville, and water was standing in portions of Chicago in the storm's wake.

Cloud tops towered as high as 52,000 feet Thursday morning. The heaviest rain totals came from Boone and McHenry counties. For some of the most heavily affected areas there, it was the third round of storms to produce flooding in the past two weeks. The heavy, lightning-peppered rains occurred as thunderstorms "trained" (reoccurred over the same area) over the areas with the largest rain totals, subjecting these areas to wave after wave of downpour-generating thunderstorms. In Arlington Heights, my colleague meteorologist Steve Kahn reports lightning and thunder lasted eight hours there and extended through midday, having started around 4 a.m--an observation reported to us from Schaumburg as well. Chicago's official rainfall at O'Hare topped out at 2.05" with Midway Airport recording 1.17".

Some preliminary rainfall totals through midday Thursday include:
Algonquin 2.30"
Arlington Heights 1.57"
Midway Airport 1.17"
O'Hare Airport 2.05"
Schaumburg 2.54"
Wilmington (Will County) 0.90" (6" reported since June 1)
Mundelein 1.60"
Parts of McHenry County received 3-4" rain tallies, and the same corridor of rain hosted 5-6" Doppler estimate rainfalls to the northwest in sections of south-central and southwest Wisconsin.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Meteorologist

While most people are aware of the wildfires associated with the hot weather out West, there's also a raging wildfire burning in the Boundary Waters region of northeast Minnesota. Winds have pushed the smoke plume all the way to the Upper Peninsula, according to John Dee of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. "We have been smelling the smoke from time to time, basically whenever there is a west-northwest wind," Dee said.

Below is a satellite photo of the smoke plume. In addition. here's a link to some recent dramatic pictures of the wildfire, courtesy of Barb Tuttle, Carol DeSain, Betsy Bowen and Dawn Ohmes.

Tuesday’s rain totals varied widely across the area, but 1-2” doused some locations, prompting weather observer James Buckman of Bonfield, Kankakee County, to remark, “The farmers are smiling this morning. This is a million-dollar rain.”
Not only is July Chicago’s most thundery month, it is also the city’s warmest month. And history tells us that within July, the period from the 16th through the 29th is the city’s very warmest. A typical day during that time features an afternoon high in the middle 80s and an early-morning low in the upper 60s (Midway Airport data).
But, cool interludes are a frequently-occurring part of Chicago’s July climate. In fact, a few July days on which afternoon temperatures linger in the 70s (as happened yesterday and Monday) are a virtual certainty. In 78 Julys since 1928, every July except one (1955) has delivered at least one 70° day.
-Richard Koeneman, WGN-TV Meteorologist