Chicago Area in “Level 3” Risk for Severe Storms
CHICAGO AND MUCH OF THE CHICAGO METRO AREA IS NOW ASSESSED AT A “LEVEL 3” RISK FOR SEVERE STORMS on the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center’s 5-level risk scale.
A SEVERE WEATHER WATCH may well be issued before the afternoon is out for the swath of the Chicago metro area for potential damaging winds, hail and possible tornadoes.
A POWERFUL LATE WINTER STORM, with twin centers—one near Rhinelander, WI; the other in the Quincy area as of mid Tuesday afternoon—is behind Tuesday’s early May-level warmth which may produce a high temp of 75-degrees—tying the 1976 record high for the date.
A 75-degree high would be ONLY THE SECOND TIME in 153 years A HIGH TEMP EXCEEDING 70 degrees has occurred on Feb 27 and would be the warmest Feb 27th in nearly half a century (48 years). It’s a reading which equals the NORMAL HIGH IN CHICAGO May 28-30. Anything higher today would approach early June temp levels here.
A 75 degree high would ALSO TIE THE WARMEST FEB TEMP ON THE BOOKS IN CHICAGO IN 153 YEARS OF OFFICIAL RECORDS.
HERE’S A RUNDOWN ON THE JARRING WEATHER CHANGES AHEAD I RELEASED EARLIER TUESDAY AFTERNOON:
STUNNING METEOROLOGICAL SET-UP ACROSS THE COUNTRY’s MID-SECTION, PLAINS and NORTHERN ROCKIES TODAY–CHICAGO GEARS UP FOR POTENTIAL SEVERE WEATHER LATE TUESDAY & TUE EVENING THEN A PERIOD OF STICKING SNOW AMID HOWLING WINDS AND A NEAR HISTORIC “DAY TO NEXT” TEMP PLUNGE POTENTIALLY EXCEEDING 50-DEG BY WEDNESDAY
NOTE: The NWS Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has, as of late Tuesday morning, boosted its predicted SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL TO A “LEVEL 3” on the agency’s 5 level risk scale for Chicago’s northwest suburbs–CONTINUING A LEVEL 2 risk on the 5-level scale in the city
National Weather Service-Chicago records indicate the largest single “day to next” temp drop occurred between November 11 and 12, 1911—more than a century ago—when the city’s temps plunged from 74 to 13 degrees.
That was a 61-degree drop! The 2nd-biggest temp plunge from one day to the next was a 58-DEG “day to next” pullback which has occurred twice over 153 years of official Chicago weather records–the first on Jan 18-18 when temps crashed from 62 to 4 and a second Dec 13-14,1901 when temps dove from 49 to 9-below.
WHAT’S COMING HERE INSIDE THE COMING 24 HOURS, from this afternoon to Wednesday morning, MAY NOT BE A RECORD—but it will certainly be in the top tier of single day temp crashes—as temps today surge to a record breaking 76 degrees then plummet by morning to the low to mid 20s in the city—on the order of a 50 to 55-degree drop if current forecast trends verify.
DRIVING ALL OF THIS IS A POWERHOUSE LATE WINTER STORM, centered as midday Tuesday approaches in northwest Wisconsin.
The storm’s attendant cold front marks a demarcation between air masses of STUNNINGLY DIFFERENT CHARACTER—e.g. RECORD LATE FEBRUARY WARMTH within the storm’s eastern flank (where we find ourselves in Chicago as we move into Tuesday afternoon—and CRASHING TEMPS to the west amid HOWLING GALE FORCE WIND which have sent wind chills to near 20-BELOW and thermometer readings MORE THAN 50-DEGREES COLDER IN THE DAKOTAS when compared to 24 HOURS AGO.
WIND GUSTS TOPPING 60 MPH have accompanied the cold air’s arrival in the Dakotas plunging to 20-below late Tuesday morning.
ALL THIS SIGNALS SOME TRULY JARRING WEATHER CHANGES AHEAD FOR CHICAGO–including:
FIRST, LATE SPRING/EARLY SUMMER WARMTH EXPECTED TO SEND THE RECORD HIGH FOR FEB 27th: 75 in 1976 PACKING AS TUESDAY HIGHS PEAK NEAR 76-DEGREES
THEN, LATER TUESDAY—A LEVEL “2” SEVERE WEATHER RISK ON THE WEATHER SERVICE’S 5-LEVEL RISK SCALE in late today and early tonight.
The period from 4pm to 10pm, which a special eye in the city and its northwest suburbs proper on the 6 to 10 pm time frame. NOTE: Modeling continue to suggest distinct clusters which may be selective in their severe weather production–hitting one and and missing another. But it takes only a single or small collection of storms to cause real problems–so all eyes will be monitor any t-storm clusters which emerge.
A PERIOD OF WIND-DRIVEN SNOW LATE TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING–likely in the which could produce enough sticking snow to produce TRULY CHALLENGING ICY TRAVEL CONDITIONS by Wednesday morning
A “TOP TIER” TEMP CRASH more than 50-degrees in 12 hours from mid 70s late today (Tuesday) to the low and mid 20s by daybreak Wednesday–in the city and potentially to the mid to upper teens in colder surrounding areas
BUT FROM WEDNESDAY 30s back to Saturday 60s and potential Sunday 70s–the temp rebound will be dramatic in its own right.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.
