The Daily Parker

Politics, Weather, Photography, and the Dog

Well, we did ask for cooler weather

In the last 24 hours, Chicago's temperature has plunged from an asphalt-melting 35°C to a shiver-inducing 12°C:

(The chart shows degrees Celsius along the left and local time along the bottom.)

The drop right before 9am caught me by surprise. When I left the house (and it was 19°C outside), the polo and jeans I have on seemed appropriate. Three hours later, with Weather Bug reporting 10°C at the nearest station and O'Hare reporting 12°C, I really wish I'd brought a jacket to work.

WGN points out that the last three days comprise the hottest early-season heat wave since 1933.

Glad that's over...

Update, 12:39 CT: Weather Bug now reports 9°C at the Latin School, but O'Hare is holding steady at 12°C.

Record tornado activity in 2011

Via the WGN Weather Blog, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has produced a mongo cool video showing the tornadic activity in North America in April:

The National Storm Prediction Center reports a staggering 1,425 tornados so far this year, with 519 reported deaths. For comparison, the three-year averages are 1,376 tornados and 64 deaths for the entire year, putting this year at 248% and 1946% of average for events and deaths, respectively.

So, remember how the anthropogenic climate change hypothesis predicts increasing extreme weather? Yeah. Welcome to the new world.