Summer 2011: It was the hottest of times, it was the wettest of times... more ›

Looks like the winds and severe weather from Sunday did some damage to Indiana Dunes State Park. Waves of up to 30 feet crashed the shore Sunday and Monday, leaving 12-foot sand cliffs in their wake. the damage from the storms extended to Porter, Ogden Dunes and Dune Acres. more ›

Although things down Bridgeport way were par for the course regarding yesterday's "worst storm in 70 years," other parts of the greater Chicago area weren't so lucky. more ›

I don't know about you, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let a little wind and rain keep me from doing what I want to do today. You shouldn't, either. I have the storm windows open, letting the wind air out the apartment; four cases of assorted beer; a fully stocked bar; cheese, crackers and a box of Cap'n Crunch cereal. Bring it, Mother-lovin' Nature. more ›

The weather has really cleared up and been agreeable today after last night's sturm und drang. Apparently this is the intermezzo. more ›

Newsflash, folks: it's freaking hot outside. As of 3:40 p.m., it was 93 degrees at Midway with a heat index of 102, one of the hottest days of 2010 thus far and the National Weather Service has issued a Heat Advisory for the area. So you might want to rethink that post-work run and stick to the indoor comfort of the gym instead. It's the 15th day over 90 degrees this summer, the most to this point in the last five years and more 90 degree days than the summers of 2008 and 2009 combined, according to Tom "Weather Wizard" Skilling. The heat will eventually break and we could see cooler temps in the low-to-mid 80s by Sunday. But before then, we'll also have to deal with some storms. The National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 9 p.m. for the area but all we see above are fluffy white clouds and the sun, that hot, dry devil the sun. Storms could develop as the late afternoon and evening wear on and dump some rain on us here or there, either cooling us off or just turning the baking city into a sauna. more ›

We've come a long, long way from that horrible, cold, dark Summer That Never Was Of 2009. Remember last year's Pitchfork Music Fest when lots of us were wearing hoodies by the time The Flaming Lips took the stage Sunday night? That's not gonna be an issue this year. In fact, as we head into the return of "Sweatfork," Skilling tells us we've already doubled the number of days with highs at 90 or above over last year's tally and we've got even more on tap. Highs today will reach the lower 90s but the heat index could creep past triple digits in many areas and as high as 105 south of the city where the National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory. And the humidity, oh the humidity, is making things feel even grosser. more ›

It has been quite a stormy summer season in Chicago thus far, and it appears Chicago could get repaid (in monetary form, of course) for all the damage Mother Nature left behind. The city is asking for $2.8 million to cover the costs of the damage that was incurred: more ›

We're still reeling from the stunning photos of last week's storms as well as Craig Shimala's video of lightning striking the Hancock, Trump, and Willis towers at the same time. Craig has now offered up a second video and while none of the lightning in it is quite as awe-inspiring, it's still beautiful to behold. more ›

It was a long, stuffy weekend for thousands across the area who remained without power from Friday afternoon's storms. Almost 600,000 people lost power after the storms but as of this morning, ComEd reports that only 14,000 remain without power and that most of those customers will have power by the end of the day. more ›

Yesterday morning, as residents across Central Illinois began cleaning up from an outbreak of severe weather, initial reports indicated four confirmed tornado touchdowns with a potential fifth being looked in to. But this afternoon the National Weather service is saying the state was walloped by different tornadoes. Per the Tribune: more ›

Count us among the people woken up by those big overnight storms that rumbled through the area. Besides providing us with a vivid edition of Mother Nature's Fireworks show, the storms also caused a bit of havoc. Residual minor delays were still being felt this morning at the city's airports as some East Coast-bound flights at both O'Hare and Midway were facing delays in the 20-30 minute range. The storm also cut power to almost 19,000 ComEd customers both in the city and in the suburbs. Lightning is being blamed for several small fires that were reported overnight. And as of this morning, one traffic death was being blamed on the storm. The accident occurred on 47th Street near Halsted; police say a driver was speeding - as fast as 70 mph - in torrential rains when wet streets caused him to lose control of his car and crash into a telephone pole. The deluge prompted a flash flood watch for the area and the National Weather Service isn't ruling out even more storms later this afternoon and evening despite the break - and sunny skies - we have now. more ›

Yesterday's storms were impressive, both visually and statistically. Besides the impressive display for the eyes, the storms smashed the city's single-day rain record for June 19 with 3.97 inches of rain falling at O'Hare, also good enough for the third wettest June day ever and the city's twelfth wettest day ever overall. Of course, that was just at O'Hare. As WGN Weather reports, well over 4.5 inches of rain fell on the Northwest Side. more ›

A follow-up to our first post of stormy weather pics from this morning's storms. more ›

This weekend’s weather is wreaking havoc all over the place. More than 100 flights at O’Hare were cancelled due to the weather. Delays averaged more than two hours yesterday. As of this morning, the Aviation Department had not reported any delays for today. more ›

During their peak, Monday's storms produced 800 strikes per minute (!!!) and all-told produced 90,000 strikes across Northern Illinois. Ron Holle, meteorologist at the National Lightning Detection Network, says the 10,000 strikes recorded within a 10-mile of radius, "...comes out to probably half of the whole year's lightning in that area." And what say Skilling? "There was no precedent for this. In every way imaginable, that storm last night was in its own league." Fire departments across the area blamed the lightning for starting dozens of fires. more ›

Chicago Weather Godfather Tom Skilling confirmed that Monday evening's intense storms spawned three tornadoes that produced damage across the Chicago metro area. According to Skilling, Griffith, Indiana was hit by an Enhanced Fujita scale-2 tornado (winds 111-135 m.p.h.) while both Bloomingdale and Bolingbrook were hit by EF1 tornadoes. In addition to the twisters, nearly 2.5 inches of rain fell at O'Hare, already making this the wettest meteorological summer in fifteen years. more ›

Bad news for those ComEd customers left without power after last night's storms: restoring power may take several days. According to ComEd executive vice president Anne Pramaggiore, "Given the magnitude of the damage ... we do expect this to be a multiday restoration effort." Ouch. According to ComEd, as of 11 a.m., over 220,000 customers were still without power, roughly half of those in Chicago. Almost half a million customers experienced outages since the storms hit. more ›

Last night's powerful storms knocked out power across the area and forced the evacuation of 11 patients from Centegra Specialty Hospital in Woodstock, which houses "skilled-nursing, hospice and behaviorial-health patients." High winds downed power lines in the northwest suburb and the patients were evacuated to two nearby hospitals: Centegra Hospital and Centegra Hospital, McHenry campus. Power was restored to Centegra Specialty Hospital two hours later. There were no injuries reported and the patients will return to the hospital later today. more ›

• Turning bad to good, the parents of NIU shooting victim Daniel Parmenter planted an oak tree in his memory at the Elmhurst baseball park where he spent his youth. They’ve also created a scholarship to help children attend baseball or umpire training camps.
• Nine of the 17 Chicago victims of tomato-linked salmonella poisoning have been linked to one restaurant. 29 cases have been reported in Illinois, and there are now 23 states dealing with the epidemic. The Department of Public Health is not naming the restaurant at this time, but says the restaurant was shut down for 48 hours.
• In other infectious disease news, last weekend, we told you about the hotel hot tub that linked two people with Legionnaire’s disease. Well this weekend a third person has been linked to the same hot tub.
• Eight people have been killed in and around the city this weekend. The Trib has the tally.
• More rain came today. Flooding continues to rise in the north suburbs. And Iowans are now beginning to refer to their circumstance as “Our Katrina.”

This morning's storms seem to have hit Chicagoland the hardest, between the hours of 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. More than 99,000 customers in the city, north suburbs, south suburbs and west suburbs are without power. While the day has been beautiful since then, the area is again under a thunderstorm warning. more ›