7/31/2008 - Dying Midwest Derecho

A few pics from Creston, IL of the decaying Midwest derecho, which had nocturnal origins in North Dakota. Overall, it was not as picturesque as I was hoping ... likely due to its decaying nature.

Click for animation.

7/29/2008 - NIU Lightning

A marginally organized MCS (driven largely by a weak cold pool) moved across northern and central Illinois Tuesday evening, providing beneficial rains and an opportunity for lightning shots at NIU. Below are a couple of the images I was able to grab from campus of the waning MCS as it rolled eastward toward Chicago.

Holmes Student Center (left) and library (right center).

Library (left), Swen Parson Hall (left center), Davis Hall (center), and Faraday West (right).

Click for radar animation.

7/19/2008 - NIU Nighttime Shelf Cloud

An MCS organized over Iowa on Saturday evening and eventually traversed the northern Illinois region before dissipating in the wee hours of Sunday. I stayed up late to try to get a bit of lightning photography with this complex, but good CGs were hard to find as most of the lightning was intracloud. Anyway, I was still able to get a pretty cool sequence of images of the shelf cloud moving over Holmes Student Center (see animation). I made it back to my house about 1:30 am or so ... late night, but worth the effort. Now, if I could just get a storm to cooperate with a few good CGs atop campus.

One of the few CG bolts that I was able to catch. Holmes Student Center (left), the library (left center), and Davis Hall (right) are in the dark foreground.

Altgeld Hall with a "streaming" campus cop car's lights in the foreground.

Altgeld Hall with a street light now aglow. This created an odd refraction in the pic, but still pretty neat.

Shelf cloud at MLK Commons. Please click here for a rather large animated gif illustrating the shelf moving over Holmes Student Center.

Click the image for a radar animation of the MCS as it moves through DeKalb and northern Illinois.

7/10/2008 – Kane County Shelf Cloud and Derecho

Wow, two separate chases in one day. More amazing is that I was able to drive no more than 100 miles total today and make it back for a home-cooked dinner! That never happens chasin' the Plains.

Panoramic of the beautiful shelf.

After this early afternoon’s chase to Waterman, I spent the afternoon and early evening working on research. As I was working, I kept a “radar eye” on the derecho that was progressing through Wisconsin (with origins in Minnesota). I finally pulled the trigger on chasing at about 6:30 pm as the bow echo neared northeast Illinois. I wanted to intercept the storm at its apex, but remain outside of the traffic that is common in the Chicago exurbs. Therefore, I decided to head east and north out of DeKalb toward the Burlington area in western Kane County. As I neared Burlington, my eyeballs devoured one of the best shelf clouds I’ve ever witnessed. The shelf stretched across the entire horizon – from north of Chicago, westward to the Quad Cities. I followed this fast moving shelf cloud, and attendant derecho, south toward Big Rock in southern Kane County. At this point, I had to give up the chase since the storm was moving too fast. I then progressed through Hinckley, where I went through estimated 50-60 mph winds, and onward to Waterman, where I ran into pea-sized hail. I wish all chasing was this easy! Below are pics, in chronological order, of the storm as it progressed from northern to southern Kane County. A short video of the shelf is posted at the end.

7/10/2008 - S. DeKalb County Severe Storm

Early this afternoon, I took a jaunt south of DeKalb toward Waterman to catch a severe storm as it progressed across southern DeKalb County. I stayed ahead of the storm as it moved eastward to Hinckley, where I let it go and headed back home. All in all, a nice storm with a little more than 30 miles of chasing. At one point near Waterman, the outflow dominant shelf cloud formed a kink with even a bit of moderate rotation evident. No complaints! A few pics:

7/3-5/2008 - Taste of Chicago, Zoo, and Fireworks

The long holiday weekend provided the perfect opportunity for Sharon and I to take in a few Chicago events we've always wanted to see, including: 1) the "Taste of Chicago", 2) Lincoln Park Zoo, and 3) July 3rd (and 4th) Fireworks on the lakefront. The weather cooperated with near perfect "Chamber of Commerce" days and evenings. Below are a variety of images from our trip.

View from our room at the Hyatt Regency, which we were able to Priceline for an amazing $65/nt. 24th floor overlooking the Chicago River and the Magnificent Mile.

Thursday afternoon -- Lincoln Park Zoo

"Here kitty, kitty."

Kids at the zoo were making a bit too much noise, so the Lion awoke from his slumber and let out a few roars.

"Peekaboo!"

View overlooking the zoo's south pond.

Variety of City Views

Buckingham Fountain at Grant Park, as well as the "Taste of Chicago".

Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park.

Michigan Avenue at Wacker Drive, looking north.

Evening view at Crown Fountain, Millennium Park.

Chicago at Night
View from the Museum Campus, looking northwest toward the city.

Chicago River at Michigan Avenue. From l-to-r, prominent buildings include: new Trump Tower, Wrigley Building, and the Tribune Building.

Centennial Fountain arches across the Chicago River.

"Taste of Chicago's" July 3rd Fireworks