Our thanks to Jim Bollow from Wheaton for passing along the picture taken by his son Marine Master Sgt. Keith Bollow stationed in Iraq for this stunning shot taken during a morning dust storm in Fallujah. The thick clouds of airborne dust turned the skies an eerie orange color.
Photo by Master Sgt. Keith Bollow, USMC
Steve Kahn WGN Weather Center Meteorologist
Scattered downpours developed Wednesday afternoon across sections of Lake, sections of
Kenosha and northern Cook counties. A few isolated cells also traversed portions of De Kalb
and Kane counties---though rain coverage was quite limited. Anson Mount sends us this
snapshot taken at 4:15 p.m. of heavy rain he encountered traveling home. Doppler radar scans
put cloud tops up to 37,000 ft. and lightning data indicated sporadic though comparatively
infrequent cloud to ground lightning with a t-storm cell near the Wisconsin line and others
northwest of Streator, Illinois. Thanks Anson for sharing this photo with us!
Tom Skilling
Photo courtesy of Anson Mount of Algonquin, Illinois
Check out this optical phenomenon known as “sun dogs”----the product of sunlight
refraction by the ice crystals which comprise high clouds. Jay C. Dahl of Rolling
Meadows took this photograph and was good enough to pass it along to us—and what
a shot it is! Sun dogs have been described over the years as “false suns” because they
make it look like there are two additional suns---"false suns"---on either side of the
disc of the sun. Jay C. has captured the phenomenon here to a tee! MANY THANKS Jay
C.! Great shot!
Tom Skilling
Photo courtesy of Jay C. Dahl of Rolling Meadows, Illinois
Our intrepid traveler from the U.K., Mark Vogan, shares these beautiful shots of Wales.
Mark tells us:
"These pictures were taken from the holiday resort town of Llandudno on the
north coast of Wales, some 287 miles from home, we also drove to the Isle of Anglesey,
which is in extreme northwest Wales, which sticks out into the Irish Sea. The weather
was simply stunning with warm sunshine and stunning scenery. The round trip tallied
665 miles."
Thanks, Mark, for sharing these spectacular views with us from such a beautiful place
in the world!
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune
Photos courtesy of Mark Vogan, Glasgow, Scotland
The colors are already out along Highway 70 in northern Wisconsin! These photos come
to us from Dan Hanson who also reports the fire danger there is “moderate”. That area
didn’t get in on the rain which swamped the Chicago area and a large swath of the
Midwest last weekend from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lowell and Hurricane Ike.
Many thanks, Daniel, for sharing these shots with us.
Tom Skilling
Photos courtesy of Daniel Hanson
The approach of a dust storm is s sight to behold as you can see from these Arizona
photos taken last week and forwarded to us by Steve Michaelis The dust storm pictured
here bearing down on Peoria, Arizona was 25 miles across, Steve tells us. He also reports
it never produced a drop of rain. Terrific shots, Steve---THANKS for sharing them with us!
Tom Skilling
Photos courtesy of Steve Michaelis, Peoria, Arizona
Did you see our full moon this week? Thomas Nava photographed it around 9pm
Wednesday evening (September 17). Nice job, Thomas—and THANKS for sharing this with
us!
Tom Skilling
Photo courtesy of Thomas Nava, Chicago, Illinois
Amanda Pickett sends us this photo in south Hobart. She tell us:
"I went to Deep River county park in south Hobart today to see where the river level was.
I am attaching a photo of a bridge that previously had water running under it with a
brick path leading up to it. As you can see, it's a bridge to nowhere right now. The
water has receded quite a bit there and it's still flooded!"
Amanda Pickett, Winfield, IN
Doug Pellegrino sent this photo taken in Bartlett, Ill and the devastation around Beaver Pond.
Doug tells us:
"..the water has run up the driveway of houses that sit across the street from
the pond, so you can imagine how badly the water affected those houses lying on the
same side of the street as the pond. In fact, water is already up to the ceiling in the
basements of these homes and into the 1st floor in some of them."
Photo courtesy of Doug Pellegrino
Leslie Spreitzer sends us this photo of flooding in Minooka, Il.
Photo courtesy of Leslie Spreitzer
George Hamilton from DesPlaines sent us these photos of the flooding on Oakton Street in Des Plaines
Photos courtesy of George Hamilton, Des Plaines, Illinois
Check these photos out. They come to us from Roxie and Dave who report their rain
gauge collected 7.50”. Amazing shots—MANY THANKS Roxie and Dave!
-Tom Skilling
Photos courtesy of Roxie and Dave in Streamwood
Patrick Skach, who always keeps us wonderfully up to date on the meteorological
happenings in Oak Brook, relays this photo of a chipmunk he photographed Sunday hiding
from then rain in the wheel well of a car. Looks like this is one fella who actually
succeeded in staying dry over our record rainy weekend! THANKS Patrick! Great shot!
Tom Skilling
Photo courtesy of Patrick Skach, Oak Brook, Illinois
Flooding in Addison and Medinah
Photo by Nathan Filip
Flooding in Bensenville
Photo by Dan Giampaolo
Flooding in Carol Stream
Photos by Robert Guico
Flooding at Lake Holiday in Somanauk
Photo by Jamie Wesbrock
Steve Kahn WGN Weather Center Meteorologist
Heavy rain totaling up to 8 inches brought widespread flooding to the Chicago area Saturday.
Flooding in Carol Stream
Photos by Jennifer Gulco
Flooding in Bensenville
Photos by Carol Perry
Flooding in Hoffman Estates
Photo by Dave Schroeder
Flooding in Evanston
Photo by Mario
Steve Kahn WGN Weather Center Meteorologist
Flooding in Franklin Park
Photos by Francine Jackson
These ominous skies and the rain shaft depicted here are the opening salvo of a
significant rain event expected to douse northern Illinois and Indiana’s parched lawns and
farm fields! The photo comes to us from our friend and frequent contributor Anson
Mount and was taken in Mundelein Wednesday morning on his way to the airport.
Anson, as those of you who follow our blog know, is a pilot and is always incredibly
generous in sharing great photos with us. This one’s no exception. THANKS Anson!
Tom Skilling
Photo courtesy of Anson Mount
Jerry and Sandy Clark e-mailed to tell me they’ve just returned from a spectacular trip to
Alaska and that they plan to return to our 49th state. They shared these photos with
me and I wanted to post them for you to see. MANY THANKS Jerry and Sandy for letting
me know about your trip and for sharing these amazing scenes with all of us!
Tom Skilling
Photos courtesy of Jerry and Sandy Clark, Chicago
Thunderstorms walloped sections of the Chicago area Tuesday evening. Doppler radar
scanned cloud tops—like the one pictured here and photographed and sent to us by
Brett Smith---as high as 48,000 ft. Final rainfall reached 1.40” near Wilmington in
south suburban Will County and 1.90” in just 90 minutes in sections of Kendall County.
Brett also captured the mammatus cloud on the underside of the storm’s anvil
overhang. Great job Brett—and MANY THANKS for sharing these shots with us!
Tom Skilling
Photos courtesy of Brett Smith
Thunderstorms erupt across south and west suburbs--cloud tops tower to
48,000 ft.; some local rain tallies top 1.50 inches--more coming with Gustav
remnants in days ahead!
Walt Stagner sends us this picture of thunderstorms which are sweeping
our west and southern suburbs Tuesday evening. Walt informs us--and our
lightning data confirms--that the storms, which are towering to 48,000
ft. as we file this at 5:30 pm Tuesday evening (9/2), are prolific
lightning producers.
And the following has just arrived at 5:30 pm Tuesday from our
friend John Hazzard, who farms near Wilmington in southern Will County:
John writes:
"Then the rains came! In the last hour 1.2 inches of welcome rain
has fallen here in the last hour and its still coming down. I see on the
radar screen that its not covering a large area, but guess down here we
were lucky enough to be under this storm complex. Mother nature can sure
change things in a hurry. This will help filling soybeans where the
rains did fall."
Check out our "Before the Forecast" report on potentially big rains
headed this way with Gustav's remnants in coming days--the heart of
which hits Thursday into Friday morning. Scattered showers are to
precede the main event Wednesday. We'll have more on our blog later
this (Tuesday) evening and on our late-edition of the Nine O'Clock News
after the Cubs game tonight beginning around or a bit after 10 p.m. See
you then--and thanks again to Walt Stagner and John Hazzard for their
reports on this evening's south and west suburban storms.
Tom Skilling
Photo courtesy of Walt Stagner, Looking east from Yorkville to Oswego
There have been beautiful sunsets visible in many sections of the world in recent weeks
-- this one included. This photo comes to us from Paul Hadfield and was taken outside
of Mt. Auburn, Ill., Saturday evening (8/30). Our thanks to Paul for a spectacular shot.
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune
Photo courtesy of Paul Hadfield, Mt. Auburn, Illinois
