Tom Skilling's early line on Labor Day weekend weather: A cool start, a warm finish, with lots of sunshine and little rain.
In short, a nice weekend to be outdoors.
Happy Friday! The coolest weather in three months has settled in after the biggest official rainfall here in over a month.
We're looking at a high of about 72 today as cooler air pushes into the area from the northwest -- we haven't seen anything like that since early in the summer. Saturday promises to be even cooler, with a high of 68.
If back-to-back highs Friday and Saturday fail to reach 70, it would mark the first time since May 17-18 that Chicago's high temperatures have failed to break out of the 60s.
Both days also promise to be windy -- perhaps forcing a return to jackets after a hot, humid, and wet summer.
The Labor Day weekend will get off to a bad start for boaters who wanted to celebrate the end of summer by hitting Lake Michigan waters one more time this weekend. The National Weather Service has issued a gale warning, a small craft advisory and a gale watch for the lake that lasts through Saturday.
This summer was one of the warmest and wettest in Illinois history, according to preliminary data from the Illinois State Water Survey.
State Climatologist Jim Angel reports that the statewide average temperature for June through August -- meteorological summer -- was 76.4 degrees, 2.7 degrees above normal. That made it the seventh warmest summer on record according to records that date back to 1895.
The average rainfall was 16.7 inches, 5.2 inches above normal. That was the sixth wettest summer. The ISWS said the heaviest rains were in western and northern Illinois. Bentley in Hancock County reported the most with 28.5 inches; nine other sites reported over two feet of rain.
By Tom Skilling
The transition to the markedly cooler air predicted to dominate Midwest weather Friday and Saturday was a stormy one late Thursday.
Driving downpours cascaded from powerful thunderstorms responsible for spawning some damaging wind gusts exceeding 60 mph at harder hit locations, downing trees in the Elgin and Carpentersville areas and in some cases taking power lines down with them.
Geneva in the Fox Valley recorded 0.8 inches in just 20 minutes while 0.61 inches fell in a half hour at Northbrook near I-94 and Dundee Roads.
Those downpours marked the third wave of rainfall to sweep sections of the Chicago area in the past two days, collectively producing the most significant rain to occur in parts of the area in more than a month. Unofficial 2-day rainfall measurements at various WeatherBug stations by late Thursday topped 2 inches at Wilmette and Flossmoor (2.62), Winfield (2.18), Niles (2.16), Palatine (2.16), Glenview (2.05), Schaumburg (2.04) and Naperville (2.02).
Hurricane Earl is buffeting the outer banks of North Carolina today with strong winds, big surf and heavy rain. The storm weakened from a category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 135 mph down to a category two overnight as it skirted the coastline of North Carolina. For the latest on Earl, check out the National Hurricane Center.
Earl brings back memories of my days in eastern North Carolina. I was the morning meteorologist at WCTI in New Bern. It was there that I had my first experience forecasting hurricanes. I'll never forget hurricane Hugo and the destruction it left behind in the Carolinas back in 1989.
Hugo made landfall as a category 4 storm near Charleston, South Carolina. 49 people were killed and it left behind nearly $7 billion in damage. At the time, it was the costliest hurricane to hit the United States. The storm surge reached to 20 feet as it made landfall. It maintained tropical storm strength all the way inland into Charlotte, North Carolina.
Before Hugo... After Hugo....
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UPDATE 10:15 PM
The severe thunderstorm warnings that were in effect for portions of Will and Cook counties until 10:15 pm have expired. Gusty thunderstorms with heavy rainfall continue to move through the city and the south suburbs with the storms extending from Chicago's South Side to Kankakee. The storms will continue east and move into the Indiana suburbs before clearing the area around midnight.
Temperatures are plunging in the wake of these storms as cooler air sweeps into the area on gusty northwest winds. Readings will drop into the upper 50s and lower 60s by Friday morning across the area as the first blast of the upcoming fall season arrives.
UPDATE 10:05 PM
Severe thunderstorm warnings are in effect for portions of Cook and Will counties until 10:15 pm. Severe thunderstorms with gusts to 60 mph and very heavy rainfall continue to sweep through the metro area with the strongest storms moving through Chicago's south side and the south suburbs.
UPDATE: 9:50 PM
Very heavy rainfall soaking the area
The thunderstorms currently sweeping the Chicago area are producing large amounts of rain in just a short time. At Lake Forest 0.90 inches of rain fell in just 30 minutes near U.S. 41 and Wesley Road and in Geneva 0.81 inches fell in just 0 20 minutes.
UPDATE: 9:40 PM
Storm damage report from Elgin- Numerous trees down on wires at 8:52 pm.
Heavy rainfall of 0.61 inches in 30 minutes from Northbrook near Edens Expressway and Dundee Road.
Wind gusts to 62 mph at Bolingbrook and 54 mph at Naperville
UPDATE 9:35 PM
A line of severe thunderstorms extending from near Evanston southwest to Aurora is moving across the Chicago Metro area. Damaging winds in excess of 60 mph and heavy downpours can be expected from these storms.
UPDATE 9:25 PM
Severe thunderstorm warning issued for portions of Cook DuPage and Will counties
In Carpentersville strong, gusty thunderstorm winds have downed several trees shortly before 9pm.
UPDATE:9:10 PM
The severe thunderstorm warnings previously issued for northern portions of De Kalb and Kane counties expired at 9pm but the line of storms continues east into the immediate Chicago Metro area. Wind gust to 58 mph were reported at Elgin around 9pm as the storms headed east toward northern Cook County. Wind at Batavia were estimated at 50- 55 mph just before 9:15 pm. At Hoffman Estates winds were measured at 49 mph.
Strong gusty winds above 50 mph can be expected with these storms as the move east through the Chicago Metro area.
Issued 8:31 pm
A line of strong thunderstorms sweeping across northern Illinois this evening has produced wind gusts to 50 mph in the Rockford area downing many small branches as it passed through the area about 8pm. The storms appear to be increasing in intensity and could become severe with winds topping 60 mph as it moves across portions of De Kalb and Kane counties by 9pm.
