Lightning Awareness

With the John Deere Classic fast approaching here's an interesting story on golf, lightning and Lee Trevino!

Courtesy of the NWS in Chicago...

Lee Trevino Struck by Lightning – 35 Years Ago

Thirty-five years ago, in June 1975, PGA golfer Lee Trevino was struck by lightning during the Western Open at Butler National Golf Club in Oak Brook. He sustained spinal injuries which hampered him for the rest of his playing career.
The anniversary of this event serves as a good reminder for lightning safety as we approach the busy July 4th weekend. If thunder is heard, immediately seek shelter in the nearest permanent building or vehicle to protect yourself from lightning. Avoid outdoor “shelters,” as they provide little protection from lightning. Wait at least 30 minutes until resuming outdoor activities.

More information on lightning safety can be found here:
http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/

Another Cool July?

June has been off to a hot and rainy start but do you remember last summer? We had a couple of real hot days in June but July 2009 was one of the coolest on record. The map above comes from the Climate Prediction Center and according to their latest long range forecast we will be cooler than average for the next month. With this weeks forecast showing multiple days cooler than normal it is looking like we are seeing a change already. But I do see a few days getting prettty hot again in the near future.

P.S. The John Deere Classic always brings us some hot weather. Right?

CBS4 Meteorologist Ted McInerney

Awesome Weather Picture!

Check out this unbelievable shot of lightning striking not 1, but 2 of the most recognizable buildings in Chicago earlier this week...click on this post's title (above) or copy and paste the link (below) to read all about it from the Chicago Tribune!

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2010/06/sometimes-a-photographer-goes-out-in-search-of-a-good-photo--and-because-of-unforseen-circumstances-comes-back-with-a-gre.html

Severe Weather Moving Away from QC

WOW! It's been yet another wild weather ride in the QC today, with more heavy rain and damaging winds. The good news is the storms as of 8 pm continue to move away from our area, the bad news is we still have some Flash Flood Warnings in effect. The last of those warnings will expire around midnight tonight...here's a Storm Reports Map courtesy of the NWS Storm Prediction Center through 8pm. Notice the concentration of wind damage reports from right around the QC!

Severe Weather Likely

We've had more than our fair share of severe weather this month, and unfortunately there's more on the way! With the sunshine busting out this afternoon that will work to destabilize the atmosphere across a good portion of the upper Midwest, leading to strong/severe thunderstorms developing by this evening. The SPC has most of our area (especially from the QC and to the West) under a MODERATE risk for severe weather, with the biggest threat coming from damaging winds, again. Stay tuned to cbs4qc.com and CBS4 TV for the latest...

Tuesday's Daily Rainfall Update

The way things have been this month we need a rainfall update just about every day! Here are the updated totals through Tuesday afternoon, no rain yet today but that will be changing later this evening!

Rain Update...

While the mainly dry weather over the weekend certainly helped out we're still pretty saturated as far as the ground goes, so we'll be on the lookout for more Flash Flooding over the next few days. The chance for showers and t-storms is still with us through Wednesday, though it's starting to look as the heaviest of rain will be missing the QC this week! We'll keep our fingers crossed!

A Freaky Friday!

6/18/2010 in Thomson, IL. Photos sent to us by Kierstin Dimmick>
I was on assignment in Minnesota on Friday but was making my way home via Iowa National Guard Chinook Hellicopter. We could see some pretty amazing views of the lightning as we followed the storm in on Friday night. BTW my Camp Ripley stories will air during the first week of July!

CBS4 Meteorologist Ted McInerney

Severe Weather/Heavy Rain

After a short break from the active June weather things are just about to get ramped up again! A severe weather outbreak is currently taking place across Minnesota and the Dakotas, with more than 30 tornadoes reported Thursday, including 1 fatality at least in Minnesota. In the QC we have a chance for strong storms late tonight, then another chance for storms Friday. Also, the end of Father's Day weekend looks wet, with heavy rain likely Sunday night into Monday. Flash flooding could be a big problem early next week!

The first image here is from the NWS HPC and predicts rainfall from Sunday at 7pm through Tuesday at 7pm.

The second image shows severe weather reports received through about 9pm on Thursday.

Free Tickets This Week!

Don't miss CBS4 News this week as we'll be giving away free tickets to what should be a great time this weekend in Orion, IL! Go to this site to find out more!



www.hillcrest-resort.com

Busy Monday Afternoon...

After a fairly quiet start to our workweek things fired up big-time Monday afternoon! A severe thunderstorms spawned a couple tornadoes across portions of the area. At one point portions of Muscatine, Louisa, Rock Island and Mercer counties were under tornado warnings! Here's one picture from near Muscatine!

Also a statement from the NWS regarding a few funnel clouds reported this evening in Mercer county.
...A FEW FUNNEL CLOUDS HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN MERCER COUNTY...

TRAINED SPOTTERS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED SIGHTING FUNNEL CLOUDS
NEAR VIOLA AROUND 605PM. THE FUNNEL CLOUDS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH A
SHOWER OCCURRING ALONG A WARM FRONT.

THESE FUNNELS ARE TYPICALLY SHORT LIVED AND RARELY TOUCH DOWN. THE
ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS THESE FUNNELS ARE DEVELOPING IN DO NOT SUPPORT
STRONG...DAMAGING TORNADOES.

Rain Update...

The rainfall numbers continue to climb around the QCA this month. As of 2pm on Monday we've seen more than 4 inches of rain so far during the first 13.5 days of June! It's rained on 10 of the 14 days so far this month! Unfortunately, we're not done with the wet weather...the chance for showers and t-storms continues through Tuesday, before a quick break arrives with some much needed sunshine on Wednesday!

The wettest June on record - not a surprise here for people who have lived around the QCA for a long time - in June, 1993 the QC received more than 13 inches of rain and incredible flooding occurred throughout the Midwest!

A Few Changes...

After all the rain we've had so far this month it's probably a good thing we've got a few changes on the way! We'll see sunshine Wednesday with highs getting into the mid 80s! While we do have a few more chances for rain later this week lets hope the rain will be light for the next couple weeks!

Elmwood, IL Saturday Night Video

Here's some video from Elmwood shortly after the tornado raced through town on Saturday...

Tornado Anniversary

June 3rd marks the 150 yr anniversary of a massive tornado in Camanche, Iowa. One of the mets at the National Weather Service in Davenport posted a great summary of the storms that rattled Iowa back in early June, 1860! It's not often you find a weather story with details like this one provides from sooooo long ago! Enjoy the link (not sure how long this will be on their site, but hopefully the link will continue to work!)

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dvn/?n=camanchetornado

Weather in Your Backyard Kicks Off Tonight!

Make sure you check out CBS4 News at 5pm today for this summer's first installment of 'Weather in Your Backyard' To find out how you can host one of our upcoming cookouts click on the W.I.Y.B. logo on cbs4qc.com!

Or just click the following link:

http://www.whbf.com/global/story.asp?s=10397152