Youve got to hand it to June 2014! It went out with a meteorological bang last night. Teams of National Weather Service survey teams are in the field assessing the damage wrought by last nights powerhouse storms. The months closing day featured not one--but THREE waves of t-storms--and the rainfalls, gusts as high as 85 mph, Doppler detected tornadic circulations and flooding were formidable and prompted scores of warnings. Sirens were sounded in a number of communities warning of a tornado risk. Rainfalls, plots of which Im posting along with our graphic feature covering last night were formidable and the amounts which fell in short periods of time were emblematic of an atmosphere which boasted the years highest moisture levels here Monday and through which an abnormally strong jet stream raced. The huge rain totals were quite remarkable, especially given the rate at which Monday afternoon and evening storms swept across the area. Area totals included 3.85 at Highland Park--which deluged that north suburban suburban in a span of just 6 hours. 0.80 fell at Midway Airport in the space of just 7 minutes! Ive listed other examples in my WGN Chicago Weather Center blog. A link appears at the end of this post. Some other 24 hours totals in the area included 3.45 Benton Harbor MI; 3.30 Woodridge, 2.78 Crown Point and Midway Airport, 2.57 Mt. Prospect, 2.43 Aurora, 2.32 Plainfield, 2 Lisle and Barrington, 1.96 Wheeling and 1.53 DeKalb. As an interesting sidebar, agricultural meteorologist Mike Tanura, one of my former WGN interns and now operator of T-Storm Weather, reports June rainfall across this countrys primary Corn Belt region ranks as the wettest in 120 years of weather records dating back to the late 1880s. Im posting Mikes graph of some of the regions wettest Junes--its a fascinating piece of work! Thanks Mike! June 2014 produced 10.60 of rain at Midway Airport, making it the wettest June in 21 years! The tally was the 2nd heaviest on record since observations began at the South Side site in the 86 years since 1928. The total was more than twice normal! At OHare, the citys official rain tally June reached 7.81--4.81 above normal! And, despite the clammy chill which has gripped shoreline locations so frequently draped in fog over the past 2 weeks. June 2014 and opening month of meteorological summer 2014 finished 2-degrees WARMER than normal and 2 degrees warmer than last month. Less humid weathers ahead with a few instability showers not out of the question the next 2 days. But weather for the 4th (Friday ) looks terrific ahead of resurging warmth and humidity deeper into the upcoming holiday weekend! T-storm chances build as that process proceeds.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 15:34:57 +0000
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