Foggy day today

P310

Fog has rolled into the Chicago area today. This was the view as I drove my son to school this morning.
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Missed it by THAT much!

Chicago blizzard 2011

According to news reports, the Chicago area missed its first snow storm of the season Tuesday by around 100 miles. It was still cold and windy, but the precipitation stayed east of us with areas of Indiana receiving up to 10 inches of snow! I know it will not be too long before scenes like the above storm (from early 2011) will be the norm!

Can't tell if it's winter or spring!

It was an odd day weather-wise in the Chicago area. On the same day that we saw our first robin, it was blustery and overcast with snow flurries most of the day. Seems like it couldn't decide what kind of day it should be and so it was both. It is suppose to get warmer next week with temps in the mid-40s.

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Back to school!

After two snow days for our blizzard, I think Kevin is ready to go back to school, albeit for just one day. It's nice to get a little break in February, but I know he wants his days back in June.

Some school districts will still be off because of the brutal cold, but we have not heard anything and are planning on his attending tomorrow.

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This should be an interesting night

The Chicago area is under a winter storm warning for tonight and tomorrow. It was relatively warm today (mid-30s) and some of our snow on the ground was melting. However, rain began this afternoon and temperatures are dropping. The rain is just now beginning to change to snow and the area is suppose to receive between 2 and 7 inches of snow.

That's not the worst of it.

On Sunday the temps will drop even more and the wind will be howling. I heard the wind speed will be close to 50 miles per hour. The Bears play the Patriots at Soldier Field and so that game will be fun to watch. As the week begins, the high temperature will be in single digits.

Only five more months to May!

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Tornado warning

We have had an interesting weather morning. High winds were forecasted to begin overnight and, sure enough, winds were howling when I got up this morning. Then, around 7:10 a.m., I saw a Twitter post announcing a tornado warning for Elburn, Illinois which is about 8-10 miles southwest of my home. Almost immediately, Kevin and I heard tornado sirens going off. We woke my mom up and Kevin went turned on the basement lights. Then the sirens blasted the "all clear" signal so we did not go out. I took my cell phone onto the deck and recorded the clouds as they went by overhead. You can really hear the wind gusts! The news is hyping this as the worst storm in 70 years. Already there have been wind gusts of up to 70 mph recorded in Tazewell County, south of us. This is suppose to go on through Wednesday.

I posted an earlier video showing a large tree blocking the road east of Plato Center, Illinois which is a small town a couple miles west of my home.

Can't wait to see how the rest of the day goes!!!

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Storm damage

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We are having a significant storm this morning and high winds are expected to continue Tuesday through Wednesday. There was already a tornado warning in Elburn. This tree was knocked down east of Plato Center blocking Russell Road. I came upon after dropping Kevin off at school.

Missed it by that much!

I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but we missed a storm -- and a lot of rain -- by a few miles. Folks in Wisconsin are getting hit by a LOT of rain -- over five inches in many places! We can see lightning in our northern sky, but it is still dry here and the forecast for Friday is sunny and 95°.
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What a difference five months makes!

These two photos were taken from a nearly identical location on my deck. The photos are of housing vacant lots immediately south of my house. The "winter" photo was taken February 22 and the "summer" photo was taken July 22 --  five months apart. It's currently 90° outside with high humidity and the "winter" photo looks oddly refreshing to me.

Quite a contrast!

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We DID get some rain!

It was nice to finally get some rain yesterday afternoon and even overnight. I'm not sure how much rain we received, but it was certainly welcome.

It's in the mid-70s now and it's forecast to be in the low-80s by afternoon. I hope my lawn greens up again.

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