We are about a week away from the start of meteorological summer. After a cool, wet spring it looks like summer could start off steamy. So far this has been the 2nd wettest spring on record and nearly 60% of days have recorded below average temperatures. We may be about to experience more "weather whiplash". Both the 6-10 day long range forecast (top image below) from the Climate Prediction Center and the 8-14 day forecast (bottom image below) have the midwest and most of the eastern half of the country outlooked for above average temperatures. The bulls-eye for the highest probability of seeing above average temperatures for those periods is centered right over Illinois and Indiana.
Starting next Tuesday we could see a string of sultry summer-like days with highs into the 80s. Stay tuned.
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Chicago's 9-day run of temperatures well above normal came to a blustery and unceremonious halt Thursday. That warm spell had generated seven of 2013's nine days with 80s, including the year's only official 90-degree reading.
In sharp contrast, Thursday managed a high temp of only 54-degrees, 20-degrees below the peak reading which had occurred only the day before---a temperature which was 18-degrees below normal. The reading equaled April 2's normal high---a temperature most likely to occur 7 weeks earlier!
And, as if the chill wasn’t enough, the unseasonably cool readings rode wind gusts which topped 50 mph into the city. The powerful flow, which ran the length of Lake Michigan into Chicago, piled up 13 ft. waves which pounded the Lake Michigan shoreline here.
Friday’s unlimited sun and lighter winds welcome---but the temp rebound they generate is to be modest and well off historic norms
Temperatures surge back into the 60s Friday afternoon thanks to nearly unlimited sunshine. That's a 10-degree improvement over Thursday’s chilly maximum---but still well below the normal high which is 73-degrees on May 24.
Powerful t-storms rake the southern Plains, some with 110 mph straight-line gusts; others spin-up tornadoes
Downpours swept tornado- ravaged Moore, Oklahoma early Thursday while powerful new thunderstorms later in the day sent high winds, hail the size of tennis balls and a new flock of tornadoes into the southern Plains. The twisters' target this time was west Texas. Winds there gusted to 110 mph at Rotan; 105 mph 9 miles west of Albany, 92 mph a mile southeast of Jayton, and 80 mph at Cone---all in Texas. The storms blew roofs off houses in Abilene.
Dear Tom,
Could a tornado be dissipated with explosives?
-- Kenneth Deering, Springfield, Ill.
Dear Kenneth,
Meteorologist Roger Edwards of the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center has these comments. “The main problem with anything which could realistically stand a chance at affecting a tornado (e.g., hydrogen bomb) is that it would be even more deadly and destructive than the tornado itself. Lesser things (like huge piles of dry ice or smaller conventional weaponry) would be too hard to deploy in the right place fast enough, and would likely not have enough impact to affect the tornado much anyway. Imagine the legal problems one would face, too, by trying to bomb or ice a tornado, then inadvertently hurting someone or destroying private property in the process. In short — bad idea!”
