WEATHER SNAP SHOTS: January 2008 Archives

Photos courtesy of Anson Mount—thanks for sharing these pictures with us!
--The WGN-TV Weather Center

Walter Swiston, official observer for the FAA and the National Weather Service at O’Hare International Airport, shares this amazing winter mammatus cloud photo with us. Mammatus are best known to occur on the underside of thunderstorm anvils. But, the flood of milder air up and over the retreating arctic chill produced the clouds pictured above. Thanks Walter!
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

Mark Vogan, who keeps a close eye on weather across the United Kingdom for us, sends us these beautiful shots of snow in the Scottish Highlands. You can see how breathtaking the region is just by taking in Mark’s photos. He writes:

“Had a wonderful day. A drive from our home town of Kirkintilloch to the highland's capitol of Scotland, Inverness. It was a cold, frosty morning here and on our 150+ mile journey up through the magnificant Grampian Mountains and Cairngorms National Park to Inverness we encountered very cold temperatures. Indeed I sprayed the windshield continuously with antifreeze because of the road salt creating a dirty film of the windshield. This froze instantly to not only the windshield but created an ice buildup on the wipers, which at one point I needed to stop and scap off the ice from the wipers which became useless.”

Mark reports Loch Ness is among these images. Thanks Mark for this report and for sharing these awesome images of Scotland with us!

--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

The lake snow is finally easing in western Lower Michigan, having buried sections of the snowbelt there under more than a foot of snow. Reports in to the National Weather Service there indicate as much as 17” of snow fell not far from South Haven, Michigan at Monterey in Allegan County. Nearby Dorr was hit by 13” while Wayland reported 11” and Saugatuck tallied 11”. Farther south, parts of Berrien County have received as much as 5-7” of snow.

Our friend and observer John Gehr from Holland, Mich., has sent us these spectacular (and beautiful) shots of the snow in his area. MANY THANKS , John!

More snow is headed into Chicago Friday night into early Saturday morning—perhaps an inch, perhaps a little more—as milder air overruns the retreating arctic chill which sent temperatures plunging overnight as low as -18.6-degrees west of the city in DeKalb County (thanks to David Lindgren at the University of Illinois experimental farm for that report) as well as -17-degrees at Sugar Grove. Though strong warming and even some rain arrives on howling southerly winds (30+ mph gusts aren’t out of the question) Monday into Monday night, cold air resurges into the region Tuesday and computer models we’re examining, though varied on timing and details, suggest the potential for one or more potentially significant snowfalls next week.

The European Center’s latest model run is hinting at a potentially important system with possible snow over at least sections of the Chicago metro area later Tuesday into Wednesday morning. And the National Weather Service’s global model (the “GFS") continues to indicate—as it has in a number of its recent forecast cycles—another storm, a potential snow-producer---could be headed into the Midwest late next week. These are early trends hardly carved in stone, but the fact they’ve appeared with some regularity over a series of days flags the systems as ones to watch.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist

This morning’s light pillars made for a “fantastic sunrise”, says Plainfield Emergency Management Agency’s Heidi Kelly.

Photo courtesy: Heidi Kelly of Plainfield Emergency Management Agency

These photos of Wednesday morning's light pillars was taken by Daniel Ruggiero on the Fermilab grounds in west suburban Batavia. This morning's frigid temperatures helped support the light refracting/reflecting ice crystals which produce the light pillar effect.

Many thanksd Dan!

Photo courtesy: Dan Ruggiero, Fermilab, Batavia, Ill.

I can't remember a recent meteorological event which has prompted more e-mails from our viewers. I want to share with you some of the scores of photos I received of this morning's "light pillars"--an optical effect which caught the eye of so many across the Chicago metro area. Light pillars--vertical columns of light emanating from streetlights, parking lot lights and other unshielded outdoor light sources--are a cold weather phenomenon most frequently observed in the planets optical regions. They are produced as plate shaped ice crystals, more like the crystals you'd expect to find in cirrus clouds, refract and reflect light, a development which leads to vertical shafts of light.

MANY THANKS to all who forwarded photos of the event to me!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy: Jim Bayne, Chicago

Photo courtesy: Tim Ruttler, Homer Glen, Ill

Photo courtesy: Robert Ooms, Bolingbrook, Ill.

Photo courtesy: Doug Neufeldt, Hanover Park, Ill.

Photo courtesy: Phil Castrogiovanni, Chicago

Jay Kleeman shares these wintry shots of the past weekend’s brutally cold air. From ice crytals above Lake Michigan and the Chicago River to ice covered ducks, the coldest air in 11 months here and the first sub-zero spell in January of the past four years made for one wintry environment! Thanks for the beautiful shots, Jay!

Tom Skilling

Photos courtesy: Jay Kleeman

The “steam” is actually composed of ice crystals which form through a process known as sublimation—when evaporating water changes directly to a solid rather than going through the gas phase. These photos were taken by Rob Kleeman on Saturday. Thanks Rob!

-Tom Skilling

It was a historic day across Northern Illinois Monday! Not only did Chicago's official high temperature of 65º fall just 2º shy of the warmest January temperature on record(67º January 25, 1950), but the area witnessed only the second January tornado since at least 1950.

These spectacular post-tornado photos were taken at the Edwards Apple Orchard in Poplar Grove, IL—one of the first areas hit by the twisters Monday afternoon around 3:35 pm—by Valparaiso meteorology student Aaron Brackett. While chasing this rare January twister, Aaron tells us that he was the first to arrive on the scene. Thanks much Aaron for sharing these photos with us.

--Bill Snyder, WGN-TV weather producer

Photo courtesy: Aaron Brackett