WEATHER SNAP SHOTS: July 2007 Archives

The flooding rains have thankfully stopped across the UK. In fact, as you can see in this set of photos from our friends Mark and Karen Vogan who are on the road in northern Scotland from Glasgow, at least some sun is making its way through the clouds in northern Scotland's Grampian Mountains and in what Mark describes as the rugged Cairngorm National Park. It's a region which is a bit bleak, Mark says, in both summer and winter, quite a contrast to the city of Perth, which was sunny and warm. He says the mountainous region is currently being swept by gusty but very cool summer winds. Thanks for still another spectacular glimpse of your beautiful country, Mark and Karen! Safe travels! Tom Skilling Photos courtesy: Mark and Karen Vogan

Mark Vogan and his wife Karen, who read our blog from the Glasgow, Scotland area and visited our WGN Weather Office last summer and keep a close eye on UK weather for us, have forwarded us these beautiful shots of Scotland’s East Coast. With the horrendous rains which have hit England in recent weeks—the wettest May through July there since weather records began in 1766--- it’s wonderful to see the sun out and shining in these shots taken by Mark and Karen while on vacation. Mark tells these photographs were taken at Anstruther, a small Scottish village at the mouth of the River Forth where it opens to the mighty North Sea. Thanks for sending these to us Mark and please continue to have a wonderful vacation!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Mark Vogan

Curt Renz shares this beautiful shot of last night’s full moon rising over Arlington Heights. Curt explains:

“Attached is a photo I took yesterday (July 29) evening at 20:33 CDT of the Full Moon rising from Arlington Heights, Illinois. That was 8 minutes after moonrise and 18 minutes after sunset. The Moon’s shape and color were noticeably distorted by atmospheric refraction and Rayleigh scattering at its low altitude. There was a slight haze along the horizon. The lights are from a village baseball field.”

Many thanks to Curt for sharing this with us!

-Tom Skilling


Photo courtesy: Curt Renz, Arlington Heights

This beautiful Tempe, Arizona, double rainbow was taken by Mitch Rubin, who was kind enough to forward it to us. The photo was taken around 7:16 p.m. PDT Monday evening. The Southwest Monsoon has arrived in Arizona, and afternoon and evening thunderstorms flare with regularity. The double rainbow Mitch has so beautifully captured here is a by-product of one of those storms.
Many thanks to Mitch for sharing this with us!

--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Photo courtesy: Mitch Rubin, Tempe, Arizona

Vincent Giovannone, who estimates he took 450 shots of Wednesday evening's storms, tells me he has titled his photos "God Trumps Man". Little wonder, these are amazing shots of a remarkable lightning display here. Many thanks for sharing these with us, Vincent!

-Tom Skilling

Photos courtesy: Vincent Giovannone

Take a look at some of the spectacular shots of Wednesday evening's spectacular lightning display in to us from our viewers and readers across the metro area. MANY THANKS to all who submitted images. Please never hesitate to send us photos you take of weather events. We won't always be able to display all of them, but we will try to share as many as possible on our weather blog at wgntv.com as well as on our Midday and Nine O'Clock News programs whenever possible.
Just an interesting sidebar on Thursday's incredible lightning from Dave Valente in Palatine. Dave indicates that between 5 pm and 8:35 pm, he observed 230 cloudy to ground lightning strikes and literally hundreds of cloud to cloud and intra-cloud discharges. He characterizes last night's lightning display as the most amazing he's seen in 16 years! Thanks Dave---and thanks to our photographers for some fantastic photos!

Tom Skilling

Photos courtesy: Hector Betancourt

Photos courtesy: Amanda Picket, Crown Point, Indiana

I thought you'd find this photo as amazing as I have. It comes to us from Steve Casey, a collague of mine here at WGN. Steve is one of the talented group of camera people who bring us the Cubs games and has been a real weather enthusiast much of his life and a meteorology major in college. I asked Steve about the backround of this incredible shot and he told me:

"We were on a family vacation last week, enjoying a swim in the Atlantic, just off the coast of Charleston, SC, when we noticed the storm rolling towards us. After getting my children to safety, I took a few pics and the one I sent you was the best out of three. It was taken last Wednesday, July 11th."

My thanks to Steve for sharing this spectacular shot with us!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Steve Casey

Chuck Hagen sends us these shots he took around 9 a.m. Wednesday morning in Ashkum, roughly 10 miles south of Kankakee. This storm was part of a cluster which drfenched Whiteside, Il with 2.61" of rain then went on to unleash 3.95" in downstate Shelby and 3.85" eight miles southwest of Mattoon. The same storm complex had earlier hit sections of Iowa with hail as big as softballs and flooding rains totaling 5" two miles north of Shellsburg, Iowa.

Thanks, Chuck, for the wonderful shots!

Tom Skilling

Photos courtesy: Chuck Hagen

Curt Renz shares this beautiful shot of the crescent moon he photographed Sunday evening from Arlington Heights. The photo has elicited rave reviews on several astronomical message boards and we can see why. THANKS Curt!

-Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy of Curt Renz, Arlington Heights

Tuesday's storm's brought down a huge 20 by 40 ft. section of a 20 by 60 ft. billboard onto the traffic lanes of I-294 striking a passing car. Rick Nosek of our WGN-TV production staff and EMS Coordinator at the Schiller Park Fire Department has forwarded us these storm photos taken at the scene Tuesday afternoon by colleague and Firefighter/Paramedic Jeremy Knautz. Our thanks to Rick and Jeremy for these shots! -Tom Skilling Photo Courtesy: Jeremy Knautz.

Photographer Nick Liveris shares these beautiful shots of Chicago's
skyline taken July 4th! Thanks Nick!!

-Tom Skilling

Photos courtesy of Nick Liveris

Matt Hoelter of Cary shares this photograph of Monday's thunderstorms
nearing down on Crystal Lake Monday afternoon. Thanks Matt!

-Tom Skilling

Photo Courtesy: Matt Hoelter