North American Weather (U.S.A & Canada)

[cirrocumulus]

http://www.meteosottoceneri.ch/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Itemid=56

[Coast]

A powerful storm system raced through the upper Midwest Thursday night, killing a Wisconsin man when a tree collapsed onto his motorcycle, pelting Chicago skyscrapers with golf ball-sized hail and packing winds so strong they spun a grounded military cargo plane.

The storm raced down through Lake Michigan coastal communities, ducking further inland before reaching the Windy City and losing strength once it moved into Indiana, said David Beachler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chicago. He said a gauge on the beach in Waukegan Harbor, a Chicago suburb about 10 miles south of the Wisconsin border, registered a hurricane-strength wind gust of 94 mph.

David Mann, a manager at Batten International Airport in Racine, Wis., said a wind gauge there registered a gust of 82 mph and that the storm caused a C130 military plane on display to pivot 45-50 degrees.

As the storm moved southward into Chicago, it dumped heavy rain and hail the size of golf balls and even baseballs, said Casey Sullivan, a weather service meteorologist.

http://www.marinij.com/tablehome/ci_18422668

An intense thunderstorm complex ripped through Chicago off of Lake Michigan late Thursday (around 9 p.m.) producing damaging winds, dazzling lightning, and ping-pong to golf-ball size hail.

The storms, reaching heights of up to 57,000 feet in the atmosphere, were energized by a hot and humid airmass pushing into the Great Lakes (i.e. a strong warm front) and a strong jet stream aloft.

Meteorologist Tom Skilling at the Chicago Weather Center sets the scene:

The storms hit in waves and roared into lakeside counties from southeast Wisconsin into northeast Illinois bringing blinding downpours and hurricane-force gusts clocked as high as 94 mph at Waukegan Harbor and 81 mph just off Chicago’s shoreline at the Harrison-Dever crib.

The storms produced an unforgettable display of lightning according to accounts. As Tom Skilling describes:

More than one observer of Thursday night’s storms ranked them among the most dramatic lightning-producers to occur in this area in recent times. At the height of the storm outbreak, lightning data put the number of cloud to ground strokes at more than 800 in a single 10 minute period.

Other storm effects:

*100,000 power outages (Chicago Sun-Times)

* Three 15-foot sailboats capsized on Lake Michigan, throwing six people overboard (NBC Chicago)

* The hail damaged 64 police squad cars (NBC Chicago)

Thursday’s severe weather outbreak was the second in as many weeks. On June 21, a fierce line of storms knocked power out to more than 400,000 customers, produced 80 mph straight-line winds and spawned two tornadoes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/chicago-struck-by-violent-thunderstorm-with-golf-ball-size-hail/2011/07/01/AGZIoatH_blog.html

[knocker]

Some nasty weather in Michigan and Indiana at the moment with a tornado warning for Sturgis.

Edited July 11, 2011 by weather ship

[cheeky_monkey]

Just had another wet weekend..this is turning into the 2nd wet and cool summer on the bounce..June we had twice the normal rainfall and have had Julys worth of rain already and looks to be no immediate improvement to this wet weather.

[cirrocumulus]

http://www.meteosottoceneri.ch/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=54

[Coast]

CHICAGO (AP) — A sudden and fast-moving storm lashed northern Illinois during the Monday morning rush hour, downing trees, ripping off roofs and leaving 800,000 utility customers without power — the most outages in at least a decade. Several people were injured, including seven workers struck by a collapsing festival tent and a woman shocked by a high-voltage charge that came through her landline telephone. In rural areas, winds measured at 60 mph to 75 mph flattened cornfields and at least one barn. Emergency crews in Chicago were called to rescue people trapped in their cars by fallen trees.

Other reports to the National Weather Service included semi-trucks slammed over onto their sides, 18-inch-diameter trees snapped, siding ripped off buildings and a chimney bashed off a roof. Lifeguards at Chicago's North Avenue beach saw the lake rise and fall in a possible seiches, an occurrence when strong, sustained winds cause large amounts of water to move from one part of a lake to another, like water sloshing in a bathtub. The total number of reported outages climbed during the day as people returned home from work to discover their power out, said ComEd spokeswoman Alicia Zatkowski. By late afternoon, the utility had nearly 500 crews working to restore service to the more than 500,000 Chicago-area customers still waiting. Airlines reported delays at both O'Hare and Midway airports and more than 200 flight cancellations at O'Hare. Winds of 75 mph were clocked at Midway. Train delays snarled Chicago's morning commute.

"This is a system that developed in Nebraska and quickly moved across Iowa overnight," said National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Nelson in Romeoville. "It was moving at 50 to 60 mph, which is pretty quick for a storm." Seven people were hurt in the southwest Chicago suburb of Palos Hills when strong winds mowed down a large festival tent during a cleanup operation. Among them was a Cook County sheriff's deputy supervising a crew of misdemeanor offenders sentenced to community service. The deputy, who had been struck in the head by a pole, was expected to be released from the hospital Monday. Two others of the injured were part of the community service work crew, another was an employee of the tent rental company and the rest were city employees. "A very strong wind that came out of nowhere" blew down the tent, which was part of a four-day festival that ended Sunday, said Palos Hills Police Deputy Chief James Boie. "The tent was shredded and poles were lying around."

In the northern Chicago suburb of Waukegan, the wind ripped roofs off two buildings in an apartment complex, forcing the evacuation of about 100 residents. There were no serious injuries. In Chicago, the University of Illinois Medical Center emergency room treated a woman hit by a high-voltage charge that came through her telephone, said hospital spokeswoman Jeanne Galatzer-Levy. "She was shaken up a bit," Galatzer-Levy said.

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/33215--800-000-without-power-at-height-of-illinois-storm

A fierce, fast-moving storm left a record 868,000 customers without power Monday, as 75 mph winds ripped down power lines, tossed tree limbs onto roads and railroad tracks and forced businesses to close throughout the Chicago region.

"It was just instant darkness," said Nancy Hirsch, of Crystal Lake, who does not expect to see her electricity return anytime soon. "It's a mess. My flashlights are charged and ready."

Despite the ominous clouds and wind damage, the thunderstorm caused few injuries and dropped a negligible amount of rain. During the storm's peak, more ComEd customers lost power than in any storm over the last 13 years, with nearly half a million still in the dark late Monday afternoon, according to the utility officials.

This is the third significant severe thunderstorm outbreak in the Chicago area in the last month.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-power-out-20110712,0,4999093.story

[Coopsy]

Just had another wet weekend..this is turning into the 2nd wet and cool summer on the bounce..June we had twice the normal rainfall and have had Julys worth of rain already and looks to be no immediate improvement to this wet weather.

This is my 7th summer now and its getting worse every year. Mind you we have had about a week of good weather so far, which is better than the few days from last year. Its turned though with rain and cold....Off to Kent, England Thursday (land Friday) and the forcast there is....rain surprise

[cheeky_monkey]

This is my 7th summer now and its getting worse every year. Mind you we have had about a week of good weather so far, which is better than the few days from last year. Its turned though with rain and cold....Off to Kent, England Thursday (land Friday) and the forcast there is....rain surprise

Ah but you live in southern Alberta here further north while you had a decent week and weekend..we had storms and continious rain from Wednesday right through to now and its still raining.

[knocker]

Some nasty storms around N. Florida at the moment. In fact they have had dodgy weather for a few days.

[Alex95]

That really is an incredible heatwave setting in across America! 90°F in 40 states! Looks like the usual afternoon thunderstorms will resume across Florida from Thursday onwards after that pesky tropical storm moves far enough away, should be in the low-mid 30s (low 90s Fahrenheit) with scattered storms when I go on Thursday.

Edited July 19, 2011 by alza

[cheeky_monkey]

That really is an incredible heatwave setting in across America! 90°F in 40 states! Looks like the usual afternoon thunderstorms will resume across Florida from Thursday onwards after that pesky tropical storm moves far enough away, should be in the low-mid 30s (low 90s Fahrenheit) with scattered storms when I go on Thursday.

And into Canada too..Ontario have/are recording temps into the mid 30s and with high humidity humidex values are as high as 46c..here in Alberta temps reached 36c in the south of the province on monday..i could only manage 27c..but had some spectacular storms the last few days. Edmonton was hit by a huge storm at 5.30am on monday morning on the news it was stated there was 759 ligthning strikes between 6-6.30am.

[Alex95]

And into Canada too..Ontario have/are recording temps into the mid 30s and with high humidity humidex values are as high as 46c..here in Alberta temps reached 36c in the south of the province on monday..i could only manage 27c..but had some spectacular storms the last few days. Edmonton was hit by a huge storm at 5.30am on monday morning on the news it was stated there was 759 ligthning strikes between 6-6.30am.

Wow that's a lot of lighting! I hope the impacts of this heatwave aren't too severe, it looks particularly bad around New York, Washington and Chicago (etc) with temperatures exceeding 40°C, whilst like you say Southern Canada could also see temps in the mid-high thirties.

[cirrocumulus]

http://www.meteosottoceneri.ch/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=55

[cheeky_monkey]

Looks like it could break 40c in parts of south west ontario today..with records broken in many other parts of southern ontario including Toronto.

[knocker]

A few storms developing in the US at the moment as can be seen on the sat. lightning.

[Alex95]

Stunning thunderstorms here in Florida over the past 4 days - right now its 9:45pm, 30C and there are three thunderstorms on the western horizon giving a spectacular display of constant lightning. Makes the storms in NE England this summer look pretty wimpy!

[Coast]

Thunderstorms overtook Southwest Florida on Friday afternoon, bringing heavy rains, damaging winds, lightning and power outages. The National Weather Service reported about 1.76 inches of rain at Southwest Florida International Airport, where wind gusts reached 60 mph, tropical-storm strength. Gusts at Page Field reached 58 mph.

Lee County has already surpassed its average of 6.45 inches of rain for July. So far this month, the area has received 8.78 inches. But that's a good thing, says John McMichael, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "The more rain we have, it keeps the fire danger down," McMichael said.

Meanwhile, the two area power companies stayed busy. Florida Power & Light handled about 11,000 power outages from Fort Myers to Naples. That's not an unusual number - "not when you have these kind of storms," said Mayco Villafana, FPL spokesman. "These summer storms come in very, very fast and very strong and make a number of outages." Lee County Electric Cooperative at one point had about 2,500 clients without power in North Fort Myers, but electricity was restored there in about 30 minutes, said Karen Ryan, LCEC spokeswoman.

There were scattered instances of felled trees and limbs throughout the area, but no serious damage was reported.

http://www.news-press.com/article/20110723/NEWS01/107230333/Storms-blast-through-Southwest-Florida?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home

NAPLES — Summer storms are the norm in Southwest Florida, but Friday afternoon’s hit harder than usual.

Thunder rolled through Collier and Lee counties accompanied by an above average number of lightning strikes. By 3:30 p.m., the Collier County Sheriff’s Office had received at least 34 lightning-related calls. “That’s a little on the high side,†said Karie Partington, spokesperson for the agency.

Though there were no serious calls related to the storm, Sheriff’s Office dispatchers said, lightning triggered at least two wildfires off of Immokalee Road in Golden Gate Estates, one on 2.5 acres near the Twin Eagles golf community and another several miles west on 5 acres near Nursery Lane, said Victor Hill, spokesperson for the Florida Forestry Service. Neither fire threatened structures, he added. According to Hill, firefighters can expect to respond to more lightning-sparked fires over the summer, especially when a few days without rain are followed by thunderstorms.

“None of this is out of the ordinary for us. We just expect that we’re going to chase a lot of little fires down,†Hill said. Chuck Caracozza, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami, observed 50 to 70 lightning strikes in Collier during a five minute window early Friday afternoon. “There is definitely a lot of lightning associated with (the storm) as it’s moving through,†Caracozza reported during the downpour, which triggered weather officials to issue flood and severe storm warning.

Around the same time, the National Weather Service bureau in Ruskin, clocked 100 strikes in five minutes in Lee County. In addition to lightning and heavy rains, high winds whipped through parts of Fort Myers. The National Weather Service received information of 60 mph wind gusts at Southwest Florida International Airport . In addition to the wildfires, several power outages, downed trees, and non-serious car accidents were reported in both Lee and Collier counties

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2011/jul/22/summer-storms-set-high-rate-lightning-calls/

[knocker]

The heat wave has abated in the New York and Washington area but the HI is still quite high in the S ans SE. Storms are being generated along the Eastern US with Binghampton, NY State just one example.

[Alex95]

Spectacular lightning display yet again tonight - lightning every few seconds for the last 3 hours. The local news is mentioning supercells. The storm should be overhead shortly. What amazes me here is how far away the lightning can be seen - last night was spectacular, but the storms were 60 miles away!

[Coast]

Expect Heat and Humidity Through Friday

Forecasts show that the heat index will routinely rise well above 100 degrees and chances for afternoon soakings are present.

By Neil Johnson July 25, 2011

As much as the weekend seemed like we were the bottom layer in a clam bake, the coming work week offers little improvement. We’ll get the best of Florida’s summer weather: a combination of bone-melting heat and soupy humidity. They will mix together into a heat index that will be cracking 100 in most places across West Central Florida, including Pasco and Hillsborough counties, each day this week.

A few places closer to the coast may see a degree or two break on occasional afternoons, probably enough to make it feel like it’s only 99. More places are likely to see it feel close to 105. The National Weather Service doesn’t really show this pattern breaking soon with only a few degrees change in temperatures through the week. Forecasts call for temperatures in the lower to middle 90s in the afternoon and upper 70s before dawn.

At this point the weather service isn’t issuing any heat advisories locally because the forecast conditions don’t meet the criteria. You need the heat index to top 105 at least three hours and nightly lows above 80 for two consecutive days. That doesn’t mean we should be embarrassed about preferring to stay inside during the coming week. Each day, the heat index will start nudging 100 about noon and build until about 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. About 6 p.m., you’re back to feeling like it’s less than a hundred degrees but only by a degree or two. The nights won’t offer much relief. It will still feel like roughly 95 at sunset, and the humidit will keep it simmering until about 4 a.m., when the coolest part of the day drops the temperature to the middle 70s.

Dawn will show up with 100 percent humidity and start another day that could be much like the day before. A string of days with nights offering no serious break from the heat are more taxing on people than one or two days of extreme heat. Despite the ample humidity, forecasters drop the rainfall chances to about 30 percent, but summer means it can rain any time and any place here. And it can dump a lot of rain quickly.

The only possible change, and that’s mainly in how much rain we get, is a tropical wave moving from the Caribbean Sea toward Florida. It probably won’t amount to much. The National Hurricane Center gives it almost no chance of developing, especially because it spent much of Sunday over Hispaniola. Still, some models expect it to move off Cuba by the middle of the week and reach South Florida. Forecasters bumped rain chances for Wednesday. They didn’t, however, predict much change in the overall weather for the week.

A high pressure ring is stubbornly sitting over most of the natio. But we’re at the edge of the ring of high pressure and aren’t getting its full weight, which is a heat index of 115 degrees. We have water on three sides that moderates temperatures slightly and provides some air movement, even if it gives about as much relief as a barber’s hot towel.

http://newportrichey.patch.com/articles/expect-heat-and-humidity-through-friday

The heat will rage on tonight with a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast. For Palm Beach County residents, the temperature will drop to 81 tonight and rise back into the lower 90s tomorrow morning, according to the National Weather Service.

The high temperature today was 94 degrees with a low of 83. The chances of rain will pick up tomorrow, hitting about 40 percent and 50 percent on Wednesday, weather service forecasters say. Heat index values are expected to reach 105 on Tuesday, with a high of 92 degrees. In the Treasure Coast, residents could see isolated showers and thunderstorms before 11 p.m. tonight. By Tuesday afternoon, thunderstorms and showers have 40 percent chance of deluging residents.

Today's high in the Treasure Coast was 90 degrees with a low of 78.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/weather-news/heat-goes-on-in-south-florida-80s-tonight-1649499.html

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/weather/

[cheeky_monkey]

Some big storms still rumbling around Alberta this morning..was a very noisey night indeed was woken a few times by some very loud and prolonged thunder

[knocker]

Storms appear to be brewing in Florida and the HI is high. For example:

Tampa temp 32C DP 25C Hi 39/102

MacDill Airforce base temp 30.8C DP 26.1C HI 39/102

[Coast]

Storm cuts power for thousands in Connecticut and Massachusetts

BERLIN, Conn. Thousands of Northeast Utility customers are without electricity in Connecticut and Massachusetts after a powerful storm tore through southern New England. More than 5,200 customers of Connecticut Light & Power were without electricity early Wednesday morning, down from about 13,000 on Tuesday. Nearly 10,000 customers of Western Massachusetts Electric Co. also remained without power Wednesday, a decline from about 14,500 on Tuesday afternoon. Connecticut Light & Power spokesman Mitch Gross says trees and power lines were knocked down in the storm. CL&P serves 1.2 million customers. Western Massachusetts Electric Co. has more than 200,000 customers

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/07/27/storm_cuts_power_for_thousands_in_conn_mass/

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.—Strong storms struck some areas in western Massachusetts that were hit by June tornadoes, and an 85-year-old man was killed Tuesday after his motorcycle crashed into a fallen tree that was entangled with live electric wires in Berkshire County. The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings Tuesday afternoon for parts of Hamden and Worcester counties, and adjacent areas of northern Connecticut. By late evening, there had been no touchdowns or injuries. Several people were rescued from areas that were heavily flooded.

The weather service received reports of wind gusts of more than 60 miles per hour that brought down hundreds of trees and utility poles, leaving entire towns in darkness. Hail, some of it ping pong-sized, also was said to have fallen. More than 13,000 Western Massachusetts Electric Co. customers were without power late Tuesday. About 6,800 customers of Connecticut Light & Power also were without electricity in neighboring Connecticut. The June 1 tornadoes, one of which was a severe EF3, killed 3 people and caused millions in damage in the Springfield area and eastward to Monson and Brimfield.

Springfield Police spokesman Sgt. John Delaney said Tuesday's storm, though not as severe, felt like "deja vu." "E-911 lit up with people who were nervous," he said. In Hinsdale, near Pittsfield, the storm was a factor in a fatal crash when a rider slammed into a tree that was entangled with downed power lines. Hinsdale police chief Christian Pedoty said emergency workers had to wait until Western Massachusetts Electric could shut down the power before they could safely attend to the crash victim. The medical examiner will determine whether the man was killed by the force of the crash, electrocution or a combination of both, he said.

"Basically, it's very hard to say" what killed him, Pedoty said. "There were wires and trees down the roadway and basically either collided with those objects or was somehow entangled with those objects and he succumbed to his injuries." Authorities did not immediately identify the man because his relatives had not been notified

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/07/27/storms_hit_w_mass_area_struck_by_june_tornadoes/

[Alex95]

Saw yet another incredible thunderstorm yesterday with a funnel cloud, and the local news says there was damage in Central Florida with fallen trees.

[Alex95]

Sunshine back today after a day of heavy rain and a little lightning yesterday.