Today has been a scary severe weather day, with the tornadoes in Chicago. There is ongoing severe weather in Lower Michigan and in the middle of the country from Missouri to Kansas. The severe weather will return tomorrow, coupled with more flash flooding possible in New England, Vermont in particular. Severe weather is coming from the Eastern Great Lakes, through the Ohio Valley, as well as in the high Plains – tornado alley. Friday is going to be quieter, and right now, at least, it looks even better for the weekend.

The tail end of a tornado outbreak is wrapping up in Chicago. Unfortunately, the densest population in Chicago is on the Lake, so the worst may still be to come. Look at the radar progression this evening, as those tornado reports crop up through the evening.

There have been reports of damage that started in Huntley with roofs and tree damage, then more to the south around La Grange, with the final set of reports coming from Bloomingdale to O’Hare Airport. Having a tornado outbreak in a metropolitan area as densely populated as Chicago is a scary scenario, and we will await news from the authorities, as storms roll out into the Lake.

Another line of thunderstorms decides to develop 2 hours behind the first batch

With the severe weather further to the east, hot dry air is billowing up the Front Range. Highs in Denver are expected to be in the 90s through Thursday, at which point a rainier spell will settle in.

In looking at the forecast for heat across the southern US, temperatures will be dangerously warm, most anomalously so from El Paso to northern New Mexico, but as they say, it will be a dry heat. Sweltering humidity is going to make the Gulf Coast and areas north to Missouri and Tennessee painfully uncomfortable as well.

Hydrate, find air conditioning and stay safe!

Never fear, that robust area of showers and storms will stay out of the Metro.

UPDATE 9:34PM

And there it goes

Cooler temperatures, relative to normal, are expected for the next couple of weeks in the north central US. Don’t be surprised if the south continues it’s blistering inferno. It’s all part of the hot summer we all get to enjoy in the northern Hemisphere this year.

I like this radar image, because it is so unusual for Florida. One isolated storm over Lake Okechobee, and another just out west of the Florida Peninsula.

Usually, you will see bands of showers, or a region wide smattering of showers and storms. The discrete cells aren’t what we usually see.

As was widely reported, yesterday was the hottest temperature in recorded history on the planet. This is a combination of anthropogenic climate change, El Niño and most of the reporting sites around the world lying in the northern hemisphere, where it is summer. That is to say, maybe it was a bit warmer in December, but too many sites were in the depths of winter so we didn’t know.

Whatever the case, it was hot.

Happy 4th, everyone.

With the collapse of Twitter, I am trying to experiment with some short form posting (category – Update) since the longer, regular posts are so sporadic these days. Since my posts feed to Twitter (for now) and Facebook, they are still visible for most of the regular audience. Let me know what you think!