WEATHER SNAP SHOTS: August 2007 Archives

David Lindgren, whose reports of rainfall from the University of Illinois Research Farm in DeKalb County (7 miles SSW of the city of DeKalb) over the the past week’s storms and thundery deluges have been outstanding and very useful, sends us these pictures of the Rock River at the dam in Dixon, Illinois. David tells us the pictures don’t do the situation there justice since they are unable to communicate the roar of the river. Rainfall over the June, July and August meteorological summer period at the
DeKalb County farm site has been the heaviest in 126 years of observations totaling a remarkable 26.47” , a total which David reports is even heavier than 1987”s 23.07”.

Our thanks to David for continue to supply us with the great reports and for these photos!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: David Lindgren

Stormchaser Chad Cowan has shared his photos and accounts of storm encounters with us on this blog before. But, THE series of photos we post here hits home because they include hometown scenes in which the sheer power of last Thursday's thunderstorms is front and center. Chad shares some of his thoughts here in this excerpt of a write-up he did for StormTrack:

""I ducked out of work a little early and tried to get up to the 96th floor of the Hancock Tower to watch the squall move in, but the storm beat me there and I was caught on the street. I saw a woman get knocked off her feet by the gusts and a few large branches snap off. My commute home took 3x longer than usual due to trees on the train tracks and power outages.
The cemetery in which I took the damage photos is about 4 miles north of downtown, near the Sheridan red line stop (4000 block of N Sheridan), for anyone familiar with the area. As you can see in my pictures, the trees that were blown over or snapped are amazingly large. I was surprised to see some of the large trees were snapped in half, rather than blown over. "

Chad Cowan's photography and his always riveting analyses of the storm situations he encounters are alway A-1! Thanks Chad!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Chad Cowan

These storm clouds over West Yellowstone, Mountain, were photographed and forwarded to us us by Larry Jahn, who took them during a driving vacation to Seattle. Larry tells us they ended up producing only a little rain shortly after he took the pictures. He adds: “We escaped all the heat on the entire trip to the high country and didn't miss the heat/humidity of Illinois at all!!” Sounds like a great getaway! Thanks for these amazing photos, Larry!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Larry Jahn

Eric A. Richeke of Griffith, Indiana sends relays these photos of serious flooding in and around the Griffith area of northwest Indiana—a region hit more than once in recent weeks by deluge-generating storms. Thanks Eric!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Eric A. Richeke

Jay Kleeman has sent us these shots. In his e-mail to us, he writes:

“The scope of the damage cannot be described. Some folks have BIG holes in their houses and impassable driveways front doors.”

Thanks Jay!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Jay Kleeman

Photos of late last week’s storms and flooding rains continue to come into our weather office and we want to share as many as I can with you. From the hard-hit Geneva, Illinois-area in the Fox Valley, Mike Anderson shares these amazing shots with us. They certainly help visually tell the story of one of this area’s most expansive storm outbreaks in decades. Thanks Mike!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Mike Anderson

The Streamwood area didn’t escape this past week’s storms. Joey Pudlik e-mailed these images to us from Streamwood, explaining:

“I just wanted to let you know about the storms that moved through on Thursday. I live out in Streamwood and I estimated the winds to be possibly in excess of 80MPH. There were several 2 foot diameter trees and tree limbs down, some were smaller. Several of the trees and tree limbs fell on cars, houses, power poles and power lines. I just got my power back at 3AM Saturday morning, it was out for a day and a half. We also had to deal with extreme flooding which put some roads under 3 feet of water and made the Poplar Creek rise to an all time high, the creek came within 25 yard of houses.”

Thanks for sharing your photos with us, Joey!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Joey Pudlik

These storm photos are of a huge tree uprooted on May Street that landed on this car in Elmhurst. Photos courtesy of Michael White. Elmhurst was another community hit hard by the storms. Many residents there are still without power as of 7 p.m. Friday. Thanks for the photos, Mike.
--By Bill Snyder, WGN-TV Weather Producer

Photos courtesy of Michael White

Jim Marocchi, who sent us these pictures from the Winfield area, tells us he was out riding his bike when he spotted the approaching storms. At that point, "I saw the front part of the line, the wall cloud, with what looked like some rotation, or at least dropping cloud structure on the front side of the wall cloud. I didn't take a picture of that, but did capture these other pics. I was too concerned about getting home before getting swept aside by the gust front. Lots of damage in and around the Winfield area." Thanks for the great photos, Jim! Glad you made it home!
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Photos courtesy of Jim Marocchi

Photographer David Mayhew, whose work always amazes us, was busy again Thursday as storms hammered the city and put on another spectacular lightning display. For hours Thursday afternoon and evening, the deluge-generating thunderstorms generated more the 3,400 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes over ten-minute periods. Thanks for sharing these incredible photos with us, David!
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Photos courtesy of David Mayhew Photography

Tracey Surface captures airborne debris swirling within Thursday's 70 m.p.h.-plus gust-generating thunderstorms. Her perspective is an interesting one -- looking west from the 22nd floor window as the the storms rolled in...
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Photo courtesy of Tracey Surface

Brian Bessler captured the storms sweeping into DeKalb Thursday--and the sun which tried to shine afterward. Thanks Brian!
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Photos courtesy of Brian Bessler

Few sections of the Chicago metro area have been hit any harder by recent storms than DeKalb. Northern Illinois University's Dr. Dave Changnon reports classes cancelled today in the wake of Thursday's fierce storms and the recent rash of downpours which have produced horrendous flood problems shown here. Our thanks to Suzy Changnon for these remarkable photos from the DeKalb area. Here's a portion of the e-mail from Suzy:

"Here are some photos our family took as we toured flood-ravaged DeKalb
this morning. Both public golf courses are flooded. The first five photos are of the Kishwaukee River, near the WNIU/WNIJ studios on First Street. The last photo shows water flowing over the Lucinda Avenue bridge on the NIU campus. The campus closed at mid morning due to lots of basement flooding and other facilities difficulties."

Thanks to both Dave and Suzy for the timely updates--and stay dry!

--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Photos Courtesy of Dave and Judy Changnon

Daniel Casper shares these photos of Thursday's storms sweeping into south-suburban Manhattan, Illinois. Many thanks, Dan!
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Photos courtesy of Daniel Casper, Midwest Video Productions, Manhattan, Illinois

Thanks to Mark and Jaimi Vortruba for these shots of Thursday's storm damage in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood.

Photo courtesy: Mark and Jaimi Votruba

John Lykowski, who sends us this revealing shot taken after Thursday's
storm hit around 3:30 pm, reports:

"A parked Oldsmobile on Henley St. in Glenview, IL. was the unfortunate
victim of a large branch which broke off a tree during the storm and
crushed the upper part of the roof and window."

Thanks for the report and photo, John

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy of John Lykowski

John Denk for this Tinley Park offers us this perspective on Thursday afternoon's incoming storms. Thanks John!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: John Denk

Storms, which for a time, forced evacuation of the control tower at O'Hare International and halted all flight operations there, lambasted the Chicago area. The power has flickered much of the afternoon here at WGN as we've moved to back-up power.

Terri Bradley of Buffalo Grove shares these photos of this afternoon's squall line as it roared into the area at nearly 50 m.p.h. At one point or another this afternoon, tornado warnings were in effect for portions of DeKalb, Boone, Kane, DuPage, Cook and Will Counties Damage reports have been numerous and it's going to take some time to get a read on the full extent of the damage. We're told many trees are down across the Fox Valley, where power failed for a time---including trees which fell on buildings and took down power lines down in the west suburban Geneva in the Fox Valley. There, WeatherBug sensors indicate 60+ m.p.h. gusts.

Damage has been reported in Mt. Prospect and 70 m.p.h. winds have been clocked by my meteorological colleague Steve Kahn in Arlington Heights. Windows were reportedly blown out of the Chicago Historical Society at Fullerton and Lake Shore Drive and a building has reportedly been heavily damaged if not demolished by the storm's fury near Belmont and Western with emergency vehicles on the scene as of this posting (at 5 p.m.). We've received numerous reports of funnel clouds and an unconfirmed tornado was reported in the Bolingbrook area. Gusts of 70 m.p.h. hit Wheaton, Streamwood and Glenview--and 80 m.p.h. gusts reported by the National Weather Service in the Will County community of Manhattan.

The dramatic wall cloud photos we've posted with this text were taken by George Isaacs 1/4 mile south of his home in far west suburban Elburn around 2:57 p.m.
This afternoon's storms emanated from huge thunderstorms with tops scanned to 55,000 ft.
Importantly, the flood threat hasn't passed. Downpours accompanied Thursday afternoon storms and new storm clusters threaten overnight, Friday and Friday night--any one of which could also produce severe weather. All of northern Illinois continues under a Flash Flood Watch through late Friday night. A severe t-storm watch continues until 8 p.m.

Tom Skilling
Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV

Photo courtesy: Terry Bradley

Photo courtesy: George Isaacs

Wednesday’s evening’s powerful thunderstorms brought 1-2” rains and gusts to 40 m.p.h. to sections of the metro area. We noted as many as 4,500 cloud to ground strikes from our lightning detection data over a whole series of ten minute periods from thunderstorms which towered as high as 68,000 ft. on occasion. David Mayhew, whose remarkable photographic work we’ve featured on this page before, shares these images of last night’s lightning with us as the storms swept across Chicago. Many thanks David!!

Tom Skilling



Photos courtesy: David Mayhew

My friend and meteorological colleague Mike Stone of WTOL-TV forwards these photographs of the serious flooding which has swept northern Ohio in the past week. Mike writes:

“Areas south of Toledo near Findlay, Bucyrus and Mansfield have picked up a ton of rain. Some spots had 3-6"+ of rain Sun-Tue, and saw another 1-4"+ Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Isolated areas picked up 12"+. Storms this morning trained over the already flooded areas. The Blanchard River in Findlay may reach a historic high. Currently at 18.24', forecasted to hit the record stage of 18.5'.—the flood stage is 11'.”

Thanks Mike for sharing these photos with us!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Mike Stone

Linda Eck shares these views of downed trees Thursday afternoon and evening near 6300 W. Huntington Street in Chicago. Thanks for these shots, Linda!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Linda Eck

Our thanks to Eugene Winter of Des Plaines who was kind enough to send us this picture of the current flooding on the Des Plaines River. Eugene's question about another Des Plaines River flood event back in September, 1986 was answered in today's Ask Tom Why column.

Photo by Eugene Winter

Thanks to Jeremy and Sarah for for these photographs of the impact across our northern suburbs of this past weekend's extraordinarily heavy rainfall. Doppler radar esimtates put 6"+ down in Kenosha County and observer reports into our office indicate a huge swath of the metro area wound up with as much as 4"+ of rain. Jeremy and Sarah tell us these photos show the swollen waters of a creek in Lake in the Hills and the Fox River out of its bands just below the dam in Algonquin. Many thanks for the great shots!
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Photos courtesy of Jeremy and Sarah

Not only have rivers in the Chicago area risen--among them the Des Plaines, expected to crest a foot and a half above flood stage according to current forecasts--Wisconsin's Lake Geneva is up as well. Eric Sorensen, Chief Meteorologist at WREX-TV and longtime visitor to the Lake Geneva area, has sent us these pictures. He tells us:

"In thirty years, I can't ever remember Lake Geneva being any higher than today! Last night, the water level was a few inches below our pier ... now it's lapping at the cross-boards. The water going over the spillway in downtown Lake Geneva was a deafening roar! The water spilled onto the hotel parking lot at Houlihan's. Several large mouth bass were seen in the parking lot! The water then flowed over streets toward Wells Street where it eventually all drained into the White River (the only outlet of Lake Geneva)."

Thanks for the pictures and the update, Eric!

--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Photos courtesy of Eric Sorensen

These pictures of the incredible damage which Wednesday evening's thunderstorm outbreak left behind in northern Indiana come to us from Eric Richeke. Eric, who works with WLIT-FM here in Chicago, is a trained National Weather Service spotter and a Griffith, Ind., resident. His photos illustrate some of the storm damage which
NWS-Chicago Warning Coordination Meteorologist Jim Allsopp, who along with Lead NWS Forecaster Gino Izzi surveyed the scene Thursday, characterizes as "the most widespread and intense 'straight-line' blowdown I have ever surveyed." That statement, coming as it does from a veteran of our Chicago NWS-Forecast Office, speaks volumes given the fact that Jim, a regular participant at our Fermilab Tornado and Severe
Weather Seminar, has been in the business for decades! By the way, Jim and Gino suspect straightline wind gusts may have reached 120 m.p.h. in spots across northern Indiana Wednesday evening. Many thanks, Eric, for the great photograph -- and give our best to your colleagues at WLIT-FM!
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Photos courtesy of Eric Richeke

The thunderstorms which ended up roaring across the Chicago area, generating damaging 50 m.p.h. gusts in the predawn hours last Sunday (Aug. 12), had just passed Hayward, Wis., last Saturday evening (Aug. 11) when the photo below was snapped by Anson Mount. Many thanks for sharing this beautiful shot with us, Anson!
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist


Photo courtesy of Anson Mount

Hail and powerful winds accompanied storms which swept southeast Lake County, Indiana. These photos from the Crown Point area came to us from Amanda Pickett. Thanks Amanda!

-Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Amanda Pickett

Our friend Chuck Hagen captures this dramatic lightning strike near Ford City on Chicago’s South Side around 8 pm Wednesday evening. Chuck goes on to say:

“This is a single strike that put down a few bolts at one time, something I didn't realize until I loaded it to my computer. I darkened the photo a bit reveal the powerful strike.”

Thanks for another terrific photo, Chuck!

- Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Chuck Hagen

Mike Frankowski was good enough to share these amazing photographs of some of the lightning discharges which accompanied Tuesday morning’s southeastbound thunderstorms. Thanks Mike!

Tom Skilling

Photo Courtesy: Mike Frankowski

These surreal-appearing cloud formations were generated as the powerful, derecho-like squall line which swept the Chicago area reached downstate central Illinois near the Decatur area Tuesday. Our thanks to Paul Hadfield, who is responsible for these photos. Paul writes:

“The outflow generated by dying storms up near Chicago kicked up a heckuva show at it crashed into Macon county. It should come as no surprise why several people were watching--- however nothing in either this or the last set (of storms) was the least bit severe; it barely even rained.”

Tom Skilling

Photo Courtesy: Paul Hadfield

Michael Frankowski sent us this picture from South Elgin of a wall cloud and what appears to be a lowering funnel at around 9:15 p.m. Thursday night. This funnel was part of an isolated low-topped supercell that developed north of Rockford and slid southeast into the northwest suburbs along and near Interstate 90. Despite the fact there was very little lightning associated with the storm, National Weather Service personnel in Romeoville, IL confirmed that there was enough rotation detected by Doppler radar to attract their attention. The apparent funnel never did touch down and the storm quickly dissipated by 10 p.m. as it moved into northern Du Page County.

-Mike Hamernik, WGN-TV Weather Center CLTV Meteorologist

Photo credit: Michael Frankowski

Dan Hanson, who does such a great job of keeping us informed of meteorological happenings in the beautiful North Woods, sends us these shots of his drought-stricken yard. He says the fire danger in his region near Winter, Wisconsin is high. In his e-mail to me, Dan goes on to say:

" Up here in Winter we have not seen rain now for about 2 weeks now. My back yard has gone from green to brown. I enclosed you some photos I took a few minutes ago."

Thanks for the revealing photos, Dan, and here's hoping the rains come sooner rather than later. Models are depicting the potential for t-storms on several occasions during the coming week. But, droughts have a way of feeding on themselves and time will tell whether the needed thunderstorms materialize.

-Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Dan Hanson

Tornado siren systems were activated across many northwest suburbs Wednesday afternoon around 3pm as a result of numerous sightings of funnel clouds like these as well as Doppler radar velocity information which indicated the presence of a tornadic circulation. The thunderstorm responsible towered to 40,000 ft. at one point according to radar scans and moved from northern Kane to northern Cook Couty. George Issacs was the photographer and his shots are spectacular. George tells us these were taken over a developmental cycle which lasted eight minutes. Thankfully, no touchdowns were reported and the funnels eventually dissipated. Many thanks George for sharing these with us and those visiting our blog.

Tom Skilling



Photo courtesy: George Issacs

The 8th eruption of thunderstorms since humid air took up residence here last Sunday produced these spectacular lightning strokes in Thursday’s pre-dawn hours across Chicago’s southern suburbs. Chuck Hagen photographed the storms west of I-57 near the Will and Kankakee County borders around 3:45 am and shares them with us. I am always amazed at Chuck’s work and these shots are no exception. He tells us the storms put on quite a show. MANY THANKS for sharing these with us Chuck!

Tom Skilling

Photos courtesy of Chuck Hagen

Many thanks to Gary Alperin for sharing this shot of a wall cloud taken in the midst of Wednesday afternoon's severe storm outbreak across Chicago's northwest suburbs. Thanks too to fellow WGN-TV meteorologist Steve Kahn for relaying this to us for us on our blog.

Tom Skilling

Spectacular lightning displays—especially across our southern suburbs—accompanied the latest thunderstorm eruption very early Wednesday morning. David Mayhew, who's incredible photography has been a favorite of ours for years, capture several of the intracloud and cloud to cloud lightning discharges over the city between 12 midnight and 2 am Wednesday morning and shares them with us. Many thanks David!

Tom Skilling


Photos courtesy of David Mayhew, Chicago

Tornado warnings were issued for northern Kane and northern Cook Counties just before 3 pm Wednesday afternoon. The Weather Service's Doppler radar detected rotation and conventional radar reflectivity scans of the storm indicated a well defined "hook echo"--indicative of rotation. In addition, a funnel cloud was sighted a quarter of the way to the ground near Maple Park in Kane County around 2:50 pm. The thunderstorms, with radar scanned cloud tops to 38,000 ft., flared along an inland moving lake breeze front in the day's heat and humidity (temps in the mid 80s and stifling dewpoints in the low and mid 70s). Atmospheric energy calculations derived from vertical temperature/moisture readings indicate an atmosphere was primed to erupt. As these photos taken by Chris Gach of Carpenterville at 2:52 pm Wednesday show, rainfall in the storms has been impressive. A viewer reports more than an inch down in under an hour near Schaumburg. A number of funnel cloud sightings have been detected by the public and trained National Weather Service spotters since 3 pm--but there have been no confirmed touchdowns nor has there been any damage reported as of the time of this posting (3:28 pm Wednesday). Our high resolution RPM model is suggesting these storms will diminish as the afternoon progresses. New, better organized storms later Tuesday night threaten a new wave of downpours on saturated ground and are behind the flash flood watch in effect through tonight. In addition, the area is outlooked into Thursday for potential severe weather by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.

-Tom Skilling
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Photos courtesy of Chris Gach, Carpentersville, Illinois

The winds of two dust devils, which occurred within two minutes of each other at one of Peninsula State Park's beaches in Door County, are pictured in these photographs. The photographs come to us from Jonathon Durr, who is vacationing there with his family. Jonathon tells us the winds were strong enough to hurl a raft at him from 40 feet away. Dust devils most often result when localized (small scale and concentrated) heating of the ground heats the air above producing thermals (buoyant upward moving columns of air). As air rushes in to replace the rising air, a swirling vortex of air, frequently able to entrain dust and other debris, develops. Many thanks to Jonathon for sharing the photos with us!

-Tom Skilling

Photos courtesy of Jonathon Durr

Overnight flooding in Rockford and Belvidere is of historic proportions. Dr. Jim Angel, our Illinois state climatologist at the Midwestern Regional Climate Center, reports Rockford's devastating overnight rains constitute a 75-year flood while Belvidere flooding is a 100+ year event.

--Tom Skilling

Rockford, Belvidere, Cherry Valley area reeling after overnight deluge; more than half a foot of rain hits some sections--and more's coming!

The heavens opened overnight over a wide swath of northern Illinois unleashing a 6"+ deluge of thundery rainfall for hours overnight night which left many areas under water with roads closed. The flooding was so severe, it necessitated water rescues like the ones pictured here between 7 and 7:30 am this morning in Rockford and photographed by Chris Long . From Rockford suburb Cherry Valley east to Belvidere, we've been inundated by stories of serious flooding which has trapped people in their homes and stranded many in vehicles on flooded roads. A number of Rockford residents with whom we've talked are calling the latest round of flooding worse than the Labor Day 2006 flooding there which resulted from 6.51" on Rockford's southeast side (interestingly, the official rain gauge at the airport in Rockford record under 0.75" on that occasion).
WIFR-TV Rockford Meteorologist Mark Henderson, a WGN-TV weather office alum, has e-mailed us the following:

"It really is an amazing story -- flood waters made it within 20 feet of my house. Sadly, we've heard stories about dozens upon dozens of people who had just finished rebuilding after last year's flood who now have to start over once again. It really was the exact same area hardest hit yet again. This, in my estimation, was even more noteworthy than the horrific flood of last year! So many major thoroughfares closed for hours upon hours....."

The overnight rains mark the fifth eruption of thunderstorms in the current stiflingly humid weather regime which established itself here over the past weekend. And, it's not over. More storms are predicted. They are likely target specific sections of northern Illinois---hammering some area, all but bypassing others. The Chicago area is outlooked for potential severe weather and may experience thundery downpours on several additional occasions later Tuesday into Thursday. Dewpoints, a measure of atmospheric moisture, are in the mid 70s and have reached the low 80s at some locations Tuesday afternoon--tropical rain-forest levels and a sign the atmosphere is still literally dripping with moisture!


-Tom Skilling
Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV

Powerful t-storms, with cloud tops near 58,000 ft., swept into northwest Indiana late Monday. This cloud to ground lightning stroke was photographed by Amanda Pickett. Thanks for the great shot Amanda!
-Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Amanda Pickett

Thunderstorms erupted Sunday afternoon and evening and produced this tornado just after 6 pm in Chicago’s southwest suburbs. The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the area around 6:09pm after a circulation was detected by Doppler radar. A funnel cloud was reported minutes later over Bolingbrook around 6:13 pm Sunday and 6:18 pm over Romeoville. The funnel, with a circulation which appeared to reach the ground and is suspected responsible for some damage to Romeoville area roofs, was photographed by a number of our viewers, each of whom we thank for sharing them with us for you to see here on our blog. Sunday evening’s storms, which focused on Chicago’s south suburban area, followed downpours Saturday night which drenched the northern half of the metro area. Local 3” amounts occurred in the thundery deluges in sections of Lake and McHenry counties. New storms threaten Monday night and early Tuesday---then again Tuesday afternoon or evening. Given upper 70-degree dewpoints, the highest of 2007, the predicted passage of a warm front late Monday night and a cold front later Tuesday along which winds are to converge, and an abnormally strong late summer jet stream aloft, the potential for flooding and severe weather in at least sections of the metro area is uncomfortably high. This is a situation to monitor carefully.

Many thanks again for those whose tornado/funnel clouds pictures appear here and who have been kind enough to share their photos with us!

Tom Skilling

Photos courtesy: Jennifer Scamardi, Romeoville

Photos courtesy: Matthew Collier, Firefighter/Paramedic

Photos courtesy: Lt. Frank Laskey, Lockport Township Fire District

With temperatures at their lowest levels Thursday morning and dewpoints in the low 60s around sunrise Thursday, Amanda Pickett photographed this ground fog near Crown Point in northwest Indiana. Amanda tells us she was up early and seeing this was her gift for rising early. Many thanks for these beautiful shots, Amanda!

Tom Skilling

Photos courtesy of Amanda Pickett, Winfield, Indiana