By Meteorologist Tom Skilling
It hasn't rained as heavily as it did in the Chicago area Friday morning since 1.88 inches fell May 29. Thunderstorms, emanating from clouds towering more than 50,000 ft into the atmosphere, raced out of Iowa and into the Chicago area, unleashing blinding sheets of rain, spellbinding lightning displays and wind gusts which reached 54 mph in the city at Midway Airport.
The storms couldn't have arrived more dramatically. They were the product of the "ring of fire" pattern which currently dominates the country's weather. In this pattern thunderstorms flare on the periphery of hot air.
Camera shutters flickered from one corner of the Chicago area to the other as a stunning (and ominous) "shelf cloud" approached with all the visual fanfare of an epic Cecil B. De Mille movie. Driving downpours riding gusts to 55 mph and peppered with a barrage of cloud to ground lightning strokes not only slashed temperatures--albeit temporarily--but put a hefty dent in the drought which has been unfolding across the area.
Rainfall fell as heavily as in a hurricane for a time Friday morning. In a single four minute mid-morning period, 0.55 inches rain fell at O'Hare. Had rain continued at that rate for an hour, more than eight inches would have come down--a rain-rate heavier than the blinding downpours of a hurricane.
O'Hare measured 1.49 inches by the time the squall line had passed. Midway Airport had received 0.80 inches. But it was the northern suburbs which bore the brunt of the storm's rains.
Downpours put a noteworthy dent in this evening's drought situation; more than 3 inches had fallen early Friday in Waukegan
By the time the rain ended, allowing the sun to emerge Friday afternoon, stunning rain tallies had occurred in Friday's cloudburst at north suburban Beach Park, which was hit by 3.42 inches. Other reports include Wadsworth 2.80 inches, Marengo 1.80 inches and Spring Grove with 1.49 inches.
The morning storms temporarily lowered temperatures. But the sunshine's return Friday afternoon should permit an expeditious rebound in temperatures.
Midway Airport was home to a 7th consecutive 90-degree day Friday with prospects that more would follow this weekend. 90+-degree highs there on Saturday and Sunday would extend to 9 days the South Side site's 90-degree streak making this the longest string of consecutive 90s in the Midwest since the brutally hot summer of 1988.
Fast erupting storms Friday night/Sat morning produce stunning lightning displays
A second round of storms, in what may well become a weekend with regular t-storm clusters emerging, exploded to life Friday night. It started with the development of potent thunderstorms which towered 52,000 ft above northwest Indiana. It was soon followed by a third group of thunderstorms over northeast Illinois and still another sweeping into the state from Iowa.
Evening lightning production from Iowa across northern Illinois and Indiana Friday surged from a rate of less than 1,000 strokes every 10 minutes at 6:00 p.m. to more than 4,400 cloud to ground lightning discharges by midnight Friday night/Saturday morning.
The storms moving out of Iowa produced 60+ mph gusts and blinding downpours there. Doppler scans indicated cloud tops with those thunderstorms towered to heights of nearly 60,000 ft. late Friday. Little wonder those storms had a history of producing 63 mph gusts and 2+ inch rains.
It hasn't rained as heavily as it did in the Chicago area Friday morning since 1.88 inches fell May 29. Thunderstorms, emanating from clouds towering more than 50,000 ft into the atmosphere, raced out of Iowa and into the Chicago area, unleashing blinding sheets of rain, spellbinding lightning displays and wind gusts which reached 54 mph in the city at Midway Airport.
The storms couldn't have arrived more dramatically. They were the product of the "ring of fire" pattern which currently dominates the country's weather. In this pattern thunderstorms flare on the periphery of hot air.
Camera shutters flickered from one corner of the Chicago area to the other as a stunning (and ominous) "shelf cloud" approached with all the visual fanfare of an epic Cecil B. De Mille movie. Driving downpours riding gusts to 55 mph and peppered with a barrage of cloud to ground lightning strokes not only slashed temperatures--albeit temporarily--but put a hefty dent in the drought which has been unfolding across the area.
Rainfall fell as heavily as in a hurricane for a time Friday morning. In a single four minute mid-morning period, 0.55 inches rain fell at O'Hare. Had rain continued at that rate for an hour, more than eight inches would have come down--a rain-rate heavier than the blinding downpours of a hurricane.
O'Hare measured 1.49 inches by the time the squall line had passed. Midway Airport had received 0.80 inches. But it was the northern suburbs which bore the brunt of the storm's rains.
Downpours put a noteworthy dent in this evening's drought situation; more than 3 inches had fallen early Friday in Waukegan
By the time the rain ended, allowing the sun to emerge Friday afternoon, stunning rain tallies had occurred in Friday's cloudburst at north suburban Beach Park, which was hit by 3.42 inches. Other reports include Wadsworth 2.80 inches, Marengo 1.80 inches and Spring Grove with 1.49 inches.
The morning storms temporarily lowered temperatures. But the sunshine's return Friday afternoon should permit an expeditious rebound in temperatures.
Midway Airport was home to a 7th consecutive 90-degree day Friday with prospects that more would follow this weekend. 90+-degree highs there on Saturday and Sunday would extend to 9 days the South Side site's 90-degree streak making this the longest string of consecutive 90s in the Midwest since the brutally hot summer of 1988.
Fast erupting storms Friday night/Sat morning produce stunning lightning displays
A second round of storms, in what may well become a weekend with regular t-storm clusters emerging, exploded to life Friday night. It started with the development of potent thunderstorms which towered 52,000 ft above northwest Indiana. It was soon followed by a third group of thunderstorms over northeast Illinois and still another sweeping into the state from Iowa.
Evening lightning production from Iowa across northern Illinois and Indiana Friday surged from a rate of less than 1,000 strokes every 10 minutes at 6:00 p.m. to more than 4,400 cloud to ground lightning discharges by midnight Friday night/Saturday morning.
The storms moving out of Iowa produced 60+ mph gusts and blinding downpours there. Doppler scans indicated cloud tops with those thunderstorms towered to heights of nearly 60,000 ft. late Friday. Little wonder those storms had a history of producing 63 mph gusts and 2+ inch rains.
