Jan 1, 2009 6:07 pm US/Central
Chicago's Year Of Wild Weather
CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―
When Chicagoans look back on the weather of 2008, they likely will remember the rain which never seemed to go away in September and a few harrowing days in late December when every type of weather condition that could occur seemed to hit the area.
According to the National Weather Service, which has compiled the weather highs and lows of the past year, 2008 has earned a few spot in the record books.
The highest temperature of the year was reached on Sept. 2, when it was 94 degrees. The lowest temperature was 6-degrees below zero on Dec. 21, according to the weather service.
The most precipitation to fall in one day was on Sept. 13, when 6.64 inches of rain fell. The most snowfall in one day was reached both on March 21 and Dec. 16, when 4.8 inches fell on each day.
The 2007-2008 winter was the 6th snowiest winter in Chicago's recorded history, as 52.4 inches of snow fell. For the calendar year of 2008, this was the 4th snowiest year in Chicago's history, as 64.9 inches fell.
September of 2008 will go into the record books as the second wettest September on record with over 13 inches of rain falling through the month, the weather service said. The month started out with a heavy rainfall on the 4th as the remnants of the tropical system Gustav tracked through the region. This left most of the region's top soil saturated for the second and more potent event. Rainfall started on the 12th as a frontal boundary stalled out across the region. The heaviest rain came on the 13th with almost all of northern Illinois and northwest Indiana receiving over 4 inches of rain, with some recording over 10 inches for the entire event, the weather service said. The 6.64 inches of rain that fell on the 13th at O'Hare was the calendar day greatest rainfall in the history of Chicago.
The wild weather returned in December, as the three days post-Christmas included almost every type of hazard known to the Midwest with a Freezing Rain Advisory, a Dense Fog Advisory, a Wind Advisory, a Flash Flood Watch, a Flash Flood Warning, a Severe Thunderstorm Warning, a Tornado Watch, a Flood Warning, and a Gale Warning active at one point or another, and sometimes all at the same time.
All in all, it was an appropriate -- if not messy and maddening for area residents -- way to end a month that ends up being in the Top 5 wettest Decembers of all time and the Top 10 snowiest Decembers. Not to mention that the precipitation that accumulated in this month went on to put Chicago over the 50-inch mark for the year of 2008, which is the wettest on record dating back to 1871.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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