Good Friday, folks. We are rolling into the first weekend of June with some better weather taking control for a few days. Unfortunately, the nice weather won’t last long as a very stormy and wet setup looks to take control into much of next week.
Temps today respond into the mid and upper 70s for many with a low 80 for a few spots. Skies will be partly sunny, but there’s still the threat for a storm or two going up. Whatever is out there will show up here…
Saturday continues to look like the pick weather day of the next week, so make plans to get out there and enjoy it. Highs are in the 80s with a mix of sun and clouds. Temps should return to the normal 80s for Sunday, but moisture looks to spread back in during the afternoon and evening. This will lead to scattered showers and thunderstorms going up across many areas. The models are growing more aggressive on the coverage of the Sunday action…
NAM
GFS
This kicks off a tropical feeling pattern through much of next week. It will feature moisture coming in from the Gulf, leading to rounds of showers and thunderstorms. This will then be followed a setup where a western ridge fires up and a trough digs into the east. This could create some hefty thunderstorms dropping in from the northwest…
This could bring heavy rains and some high water issues back into the region.
Make it a fantastic Friday and take care.
A few days ago, KWC member MarkLex commented about the lack of thunderstorms or any severe weather in his part of Kentucky the last few years. This year for the Chicago area, the lack of thunderstorms or severe weather has been even more pronounced.
So far, no severe weather watches have been issued by the SPC for the Chicago area this year. NWS Chicago has issued no tornado warnings, and only two severe thunderstorm warnings for the area, and both were issued the evening of April 29th. A fast-moving line of showers moved through the West and SW Suburbs, with an isolated cell that briefly contained a 58-MPH wind gust. There was no thunder reported with any of these showers.
On only two days this year has thunder been reported at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. This is the first time that no severe weather or flash flooding occurred here during the entire month of May since 2002.
The following link shows a map of the US and all the severe weather reports so far this year. The Chicago area, with only two reports of severe weather, has been one of the least active areas in the country. http://weather.gov/lot/May2021 (click on the “Lack of Severe Weather” link)
Hey Mike!
Yep – isn’t it strange? But yesterday we actually did have thunder her. Brief, but heavy rain and wind, distant thunder but nothing serious. I think if I had to define it I would call it a thunder shower.
It’s definitely not lack of rain………just lack of thunderstorms…
I remember the first few years I lived here, we would have severe thunderstorms heading toward us from the north/northwest, and the sky would be black as night in the middle of the afternoon. Like scary black. I remember that because I had never seen skies that black until moving here, so I thought it was just the climate here..
Normally, I would attribute lack of thunderstorms to be just (we got missed) but this has been pretty ridiculous the past few years……all while receiving plenty of rain.
You guys in KY have definitely gotten much more rain than we have here in the Chicago area, which just experienced its third driest Spring on record. Much of Northern IL is experiencing drought conditions, with far NE IL in a severe drought, as categorized by the US Drought Monitor.
In May 2020, Chicago experienced its wettest May ever, with over 11 inches of precipitation. This May, just 1.79 inches. Talk about a drastic change from one year to the next!
It’ll be interesting to see if we have a lot of backloaded severe weather this summer, considering we’ve barely had any so far.
Interesting Mike, I don’t know, but I think (my theory) that the solar cycle we have been in would play into what the weather has been all over the Globe along with other weather related factors too numerous to mention.
Here in in Union Co. We have experience some thunder and lighting not as frequently we use to and no tornado watch or warnings either. I really all the energy has been down south were they have been bombard with strong storms.
Could be that the Tropical Atlantic is storing up convective potential energy, and if that is happening then another very active Tropical storm season is ahead for the Gulf and the Caribbean ?
I’ll bet Chris has an explanation as to why our area along with other areas of the US is not seeing thunderstorms. How bout it Chris. We would all be interested to know.
Ever since the traditional deep south (LA, MS, AL, GA) severe weather season was a no-show in February, I’ve been of the opinion that our Kentucky severe weather season would be substantially back-loaded. The crazy cold snaps in April & May reinforced my thinking. Our azalea bushes bloomed 3 weeks later than we’ve ever seen, and I’ve yet to see a bud on our Day Lilies. in the past they’ve ALWAYS started to pop by the first week of June. Stay tuned…