WEATHER SNAP SHOTS: January 2007 Archives

Monday's lake-enhanced snowfall, pictured in these photos from John Gehr, along with other recent lake snow—including the local 20" accumulations recorded over the weekend—has transformed the snowbelts of southwestern Michigan and sections of north-central Indiana into a winter wonderland. John reports 6-7" has fallen Monday at Park Township on the north end of Holland, Michigan, with very little wind bringing to 11-12" the total amount of snow on the ground. Many thanks for the report and for these eyecatching phots, John! - Tom Skilling WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist PHOTO COURTESY: John Gehr

Pilot and friend of this blog and the WGN weather team Anson Mount shares Friday morning's sunrise at Waukegan Airport. The day dawned with southwest winds in the wake of an overnight warm frontal passage. The Chicago area is being treated to its first day above 32° in 11! But, the warming is temporary: Strong cooling sweeps the area over the weekend with frigid arctic air back in firm control Sunday, and models still predict the potential for this winter's most brutal cold spell later next week and the following (Super Bowl) weekend. Many thanks, Anson, for sharing this with us!!
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Lake effect snows will build south into sections of the Indiana lake snowbelt Wednesday night into Thursday. But, lake snow has already accumulated across western Michigan. John Gehr took these photos at Holland State Park. He reports 5-6" are on the ground and that 2" of fresh snow is down as of 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. Many thanks to John for sharing these shots with us!
-Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

PHOTO COURTESY: John Gehr

Kip Krause relayed this shot to us from his backyard of Monday morning's snow in the Santa Catalina mountains, home of the Mount Lemmon Ski resort. The mountains pictured here are 8,500 feet high. Most of the snow had melted by 2 p.m. Monday afternoon. PHOTO CREDIT: Kip Krause

The extended period of unseasonably warm weather in the Chicago area has resulted in the early emergence of spring flowers. Unfortunately, a rude awakening awaits them when the cold weather finally returns. Our thanks to George and Vickie Patryn from South Elgin and Bill Iwans from Sycamore for sharing their photos.

Steve Kahn WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune Meteorologist

Photo by Bill Iwans Sycamore, Ill.

Photo by Bill Iwans Sycamore, Ill.

Photo by George and Vickie Patryn South Elgin, Ill.