Chicago Storm

Cicada activity has been very hit or miss. Have had none at home, at good ole ex-home, or at ORD. But places in-between have been overrun, such as Glendale Heights, Oak Brook, and Bolingbrook. It's interesting to say the least.

Yea, wasn't too much of a surprise in the end. ...But things did fade a bit faster than even thought going into it. The combination of residual capping, lowering instability, and mixed out DP's really did it in.

High winds last evening and last night were solid across the area. ORD had a peak wind gust of 58MPH.

may very well only be an EF-2 in that case.

91 at MDW today, while ORD got 89'd. ...2024 90°+ Day Tally... 1 - MDW 1 - RFD 1 - ARR 0 - ORD 0 - DPA 0 - PWK 0 - UGN 0 - LOT

Twins in SW. Iowa right now.

Expectation should be that it'll be in a weakening phase as it passes through the CWA.

Really not expecting too much of intertest around here with this. Environment really tails off with east/southeast extent. So much of the guidance that is showing activity quickly weakening as it moves through is probably is correct. SPC is way too overzealous with the enhanced risk.

Best late winter/spring in ages.

Realistic shot at the first 90° day of the year tomorrow? Maybe. Depends on how overnight/morning activity evolves in the region.

That's because this stretch that we're in also had the great record breaking February, something 2012 fell short on (In comparison). So in other words, 2024 February thru Mid-May has had better consistency and longevity in terms of mild/warm temps and nice weather.

A bit late to getting to some of this, so playing catch-up... Chased two multi-mode severe t'storms across portions of Western and Northwestern Illinois on Tuesday, April 16th. Encountered a wall cloud, nickel size hail, 40-50MPH winds, and a gustnado with the activity. A combination of not planning on heading into Iowa, leaving a bit late, and not wanting to deal with the lack of Mississippi River crossings along the Iowa/Illinois border prevented me from seeing any of the tornado action in SE. Iowa. And naturally, the tornado threat vaporized after activity crossed the border into Illinois, due to limited recovery time in the wake of the first round of activity. Chased a supercell severe t'storm across portions of Central Illinois on Thursday, April 18th. Encountered two funnel clouds and 40-50MPH winds with the activity. I really didn't plan on chasing this day, but I was down in C. Illinois for something and activity came close enough for me to mess around with it for a short time. The best part was a close encounter with a rain wrapped couple of supercell t'storm that was overtaken by a QLCS. It gave it a solid effort in producing a tornado in the heavy rain, in a field right across from me just outside of Raymond, IL (Pictured below).

I thought it looked familiar, but couldn't put my finger on exactly which species it was. The majesty palm is somewhat cold hardy, but not as much so as a few other species.

That shit was amazing. Sat out in NW. Illinois from when it cleared ~11:30PM till 3AM. I should have stayed longer too, with a secondary peak 3:30-4:30AM, but I was barely hanging on as it was. Too many pictures to even go through, but hopefully will have a few up eventually.

Will be headed up to NW. Illinois after work later for the Northern Lights, if things are still looking good. That area will have the best combination of the least amount of light pollution and earliest exit of clouds.