Thunderstoirms rush in after a 73-degree high
Temperatures returned to the 70s Tuesday for the first time in a week. Readings of
74 degrees at Rockford, Wheeling and Chicago's Midway Airport topped the day's
high temperature list. It marked the 14th time in 2008 that the mercury has topped
70 degrees and set the stage for late afternoon thunderstorm development. By
evening, nickel- and quarter-size hail had been reported from the Mississippi River
east to Dixon. Hailstones 1 inch in diameter showered down on Ogle County's
Oregon around 5:25 p.m., prompting a severe thunderstorm warning. By that time,
lightning was flashing earthward from the base of 43,000-foot-tall cumulonimbus
clouds (thunderheads) within a 200 mile radius of Chicago at nearly 400 times a
minute.
Powerful winds gushed out of the leading edge of the eastbound storms, reaching 52
m.p.h. at suburban Long Grove, Mundelein and Carpentersville early Tuesday
evening.
ONLY FOUR MAYS IN THE LAST HALF CENTURY WERE WETTER HERE
May's rainfall at O'Hare International Airport reached 2.99 inches prior to Tuesday's
storms, making it the 17th wettest opening for the month here since 1871. Only four
Mays in the past half century have opened wetter.