Prairie Works

If you were around the morning of January 16 you experienced some very cold temperatures.

Here is a breakdown of some of the area’s low temperatures:

• Cedar Rapids, IA     -29 (set all time record)
• Chicago, IL     -17
• Dixon, IL     -32
• Dubuque, IA    -30 (set daily record)
• Galena, IL    -30
• Moline, IL     -27 (set daily record)
• Monroe, WI    -27
• Peoria, IL    -21 (set daily record)
• Platteville, WI     -35
• Rochelle, IL     -36 (*unofficially tied the all time record low in the state of Illinois)
• Rockford, IL     -25
• Savanna, IL    -31
• Waterloo, IA     -34 (tied all time record)

Other Notes of Interest: Dubuque, IA also set a daily record the day before on January 15th of -25,  previously set in 1888. Dubuque’s all time record is -32 set in 1888 on January 16.

Many of you have probably experienced an all time record cold before: One occurred in Chicago and Rockford on January 20th, 1985 when the stations recorded -27  and -26, respectively.

*The Illinois all time record which was tied was recorded by an AWOS (Automated Weather Observing System) station run soley by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) versus an ASOS (Automated Surface Observing Systems) run by the NWS (National Weather Service). Therefore, it  cannot be considered an official recording by the NWS and will not be considered as tying the state record. The things you learn doing blog research. The all time state record for Illinois remains -36 set at Congerville on January 5th, 1999.

Nearby Elizabeth, IL  and Mount Carroll, IL once were tied for the states all time low record of -35 (Feb. 4 1996 at Elizabeth and Jan. 22 1930 at Mt. Carroll) before losing it to the -36 Congerville record in 1999.

Wisconsin’s record low of -55 was set on Febuary 4, 1996, at Couderay and Iowa’s -47 was set on Febuary 3, 1996 at Elkader. Interesting to note that Minnesota’s all time low was also recorded during this same 1996 cold spell (-60). A low of -19 was recorded in Chicago during that cold snap, which was the last time Chicago failed to get above zero, our most recent comparable cold snap. So, as always, it could be worse.

Ecologists are intrigued by the weather much like a weather man is interested in astronomy. A direct correlation does not exist but avoiding the topics would be impossible to do. The year of 2008 left us with a lot of remarkable weather which was fun to observe, difficult to schedule around and sometimes downright scary.

Last April, I posted a blog about the winter of 2007-2008, explaining the snowiest winter this area has ever seen. This was followed by a June posting explaining the very wet spring. In fact, it was the wettest year in Chicago history with 51 inches of rain falling. The flooding of June 2008 was the costliest natural disaster in Wisconsin history, altering the tourism industry in the town of Wisconsin Dells. ”There were all kinds of things going on,” said Harry Hillaker, Iowa State climatologist. He would know; his state endured 105 tornadoes this year, including its first F5 tornado since 1968 and the worst flooding in Iowa history.

December 2008 – This past month, many Midwest cities set December records for snowfall amounts. Some also set records for most rainfall… It was so dynamic this past December that the three days following Christmas, Chicago weathermen issued the following (in order): A Freezing Rain Advisory, a Dense Fog Advisory, a Wind Advisory, a Flash Flood Watch, a Flash Flood Warning, a Severe Thunderstorm Warning, a Tornado Watch, a Flood Warning, and a Gale Warning, and sometimes all at the same time. During that event the temperature rose from -1 to 58 degrees in three days! Madison, WI, shattered their all time snow record last year and is currently on pace to beat that with 38.6 inches already falling.

What is causing such new extremes in a generally steady Midwest? I am not sure, but a myriad of issues arrived in the public consciousness in 2008. It’s my New Year’s prediction that environmental issues will become increasingly important in the near future. However, in the future, it may not be the plants and animals that we will be worried about… 

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=228256 The Dubuque, IA weather summary

With winter slowly starting to form we are all hearing varied predictions of how severe this oncoming winter will be. Last year, we were hit with one of the harshest winters in history making the curiosity level high. Will this be the case again?

Long range forecasts from meteorologists, weather statisticians, and the Farmers Almanac are all producing inconsistent predictions. Ranging from mild and dry to cold and snowy. So due to technical difficulties. Let us focus on our most time tested predictor of winter weather, the Banded Woolly Bear or Woolly Worm (Pyrrharctia isabella).

Folklore tells us that the Woolly Worm will produce a larger rusty band if the oncoming winter is to be mild and a thinner band if the winter is to be harsh. The Woolly Bear is often seen in October as it is seeking shelter for the winter.

Beggining in 1948 Dr. C. H. Curran, curator of insects at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, started researching this tale. Between 1948 and 1956 he found that the Woolly Bear can be 80% accurate. His yearly findings were published in the New York Times making the catterpillar one of the most identifiable insects in the United States. Today Woolly Bear festivals are held in Ohio, Kentucky and North Carolina to celebrate this speculating insect.

Have you seen a Woolly Bear?

http://www.almanac.com/preview2000/woollybears.html The Truth About Woolly Bears (From The Farmers Almanac)

This past weekend the Chicago area received up to 9 inches of rain. 2008 is on track to become the wettest in history there. Dubuque, IA is not far behind with 39.58 official inches so far. The following is an excerpt from weatherman Tom Skillings blog of WGN-TV. 

http://blogs.trb.com/news/weather/weblog/wgnweather/ Subscribe to Toms blog here

Fresh off of a record setting winter where we received a record 78.7 inches of snow. The Tri-State area is now breaking spring rainfall totals. Dubuque, IA has doubled it’s normal rainfall amount for the spring and matched with the earlier snow melt off, it is causing major problems.

Agriculture, Construction and Emergency Services have all been getting crunched with this warm variety of severe weather this spring. Like last winters snowfall stats; these too have been staggering:

Some areas of the Tri-States have received more than 12 inches of rain so far in June. The normal amount for the entire month is 1.82 inches. Most rivers in the area have peaked at levels never seen before. Neighboring Grant County was in a state of emergency yesterday as a deluge of rain washed cars off of roads, which included three small tornado’s. A section of I-80 in Iowa has closed and traffic has been rerouted through Dubuque causing traffic jams. The local radio stations storm warning has become commonplace now hindering on monotony.

“We’re basically in uncharted waters,” said Steve Kuhl, meteorologist in charge at the Quad Cities office of the National Weather Service. “It is unprecedented. We have never seen these river levels. We have our models that help us with our river forecasts, but since this has never happened before, we are adjusting those on the fly.” The Cedar River in Cedar Rapids, IA was expected to crest at nearly 32 feet, an astonishing 12 feet higher than the old record, set in 1929. The drenching has also severely damaged the corn crop in the Midwest at a time when corn prices are soaring.

On the prairie front, we are seeing rapid weed growth and robust plant sizes. Our dry prairies are showing that moisture tolerant species are dominating and drier species are in decline. Plants never seen in areas before, such as Angelica (Angelica atropurpurea) have made unannounced appearances. It has also been a good opportunity to recognize the over efficiency of our storm water removal systems and the need to install rain gardens, bio-swales, permeable paving and to utilize native plants on slopes…

On September 15th 2007, Dubuque, IA recorded its earliest frost ever. Was this a sign of things to come? Today, winter is slowly coming to an end and we have historic winter weather statistics to report. Many cities and counties set record snowfall amounts here in the upper Midwest. We are also reporting colder than average temperatures and had lots of miscellaneous precipitation. This put a stress on road crews that was unbearable at times. Many school districts in the area have lengthened the school day in order to make up for the many “snow days” and munincipalities are scrambling to adjust budgets that were over-consumed by snow removal and salt costs.

It all started on November 21st when we received 2.2 inches of the white stuff. We did not realize how well acquainted we would become… December gave us a plethora of rain, snow, ice and fog. We ended the month with 20.6 inches of snow and a record setting amount of rain (4.61 inches). We also had two vicious ice storms and 11 days of visibility of a quarter mile or less. We thought that winter came on strong but would fade out early. January was relatively easy when compared to its bookends. We received only 13.2 inches of snow but experienced a cold snap the last week of the month where nearby Waterloo, IA, fell to -29 below (January 23rd).

February 2008 was a month with many staggering weather statistics. Dubuque, IA, racked up a record amount of 32.5 inches of snow which fell on 80 percent of the days possible. This included an Ash Wednesday snowstorm that dropped 18″ of snow in JoDaviess County. A week long stretch of sub-zero temps followed. It became the 2nd wettest February in Chicago history. Madison, WI, broke its all time snow record very early in the month when winter was a mere 6 weeks old! The national guard was called out to Interstate 90 south of Madison on the 5th to help stranded motorists – the first time that’s happened in the Midwest since the famous Chicago blizzard of 1967. Famed Chicago weatherman, Tom Skilling, was creating stats about the month never heard before. Skilling said of February, “Sunshine in February was 40 percent of possible versus normal of 46 percent”? Whatever exactly happened, it was extremely cloudy, cold and snowy.

We entered March with our local snowfall records in sight. Snow amounts were recorded sporadically and in small amounts. Lent ended in Chicago like it began, with a snowstorm. A Good Friday storm brought 7 inches of snow, setting the all time record for McHenry County, Illinois (77 inches). With that storm Chicago surpassed its 60 inch total and Madison, WI surpassed the 100 inch milestone. It was the first “White Easter” in 30 years for many areas. The Galena area had to wait until March 27th to break our all time record. This was set at the Dubuque Airport Thursday, March 27th at 7:30 P.M. with a wet and short-lived 4.4 incher.

Madison, WI – The most amazing statistic was brought to us by Madison, WI.

Weather records seem to be like records set in athletic realms, they are barely broken, just extending past. Records are made by small measurements, split seconds or a degree or two. A maximum threshold seems to always exist. This was not the case with Madison’s snowfall record. It shattered its previous record of 76.1 inches by over two feet (24.6 inches). Snow has been sitting on the ground there every day since December 2nd (another record broken). Many Chicagoans remember the infamous winters of the late 1970s. The record setting season for Chicago snowfall in 1978-1979 was 89.7 inches.

With all the numbers attempting to explain the story, these statistics cannot convey the ice, sleet combined with snow (sneet), extremely dense fog, thunder snow, blowing winds and the relentless 3 inch snow events that we absorbed this winter. I was provided with many memorable driving experiences like my drive on December 23rd from Platteville to Galena that left fingerprints that are forever embedded into the steering wheel of our Volkswagen Passat. Also, my annual Easter weekend canoe trip was done with the sounds of snowplows in the distance. Not to be forgotten.

With that being said I thought I may add: The largest snowfall in JoDaviess County history occurred in April and the latest snow to ever fall in Chicago was on June 10, 1910…

Snowiest Winters for Dubuque, IA

1. 76.2″…2007-08 (34.4 inches greater than normal)
2. 75.7″…1961-62
3. 75.0″…1974-75
4. 71.5″…1959-60
5. 71.3…1977-78
6. 70.4″…1978-79
7. 65.9″…1958-59
8. 63.8″…1992-93
9. 59.8″…1985-86
10. 59.3″…1950-51

Official Snow Totals From Around The Region (as of April 1st)

Cedar Rapids, IA     59.9″    Normal   27.7″ (2nd Snowiest Ever)
Chicago (O’Hare)     60.3″    Normal   36.4″ (7th Snowiest Ever)
Chicago (Midway)   60.7″    Normal   42.9″ (7th Snowiest Ever)
Dubuque, IA            76.2″    Normal   42.0″ (Record Set)
Madison, WI            100.7″  Normal   46.3″ (Record Set)
Milwaukee, WI        98.9″   Normal   49.7″ (2nd Snowiest Ever)
Moline, IL                51.5″    Normal   33.7″ (2nd Snowiest Ever)
Rockford, IL            72.9″    Normal   37.3″ (2nd Snowiest Ever)

http://blogs.trb.com/news/weather/weblog/wgnweather/ Tom Skilling’s Blog

http://www.weather.gov/ Official Weather Recordings

MAR 28 – Yesterday 4.4 inches of snow fell at the official recording station at Dubuque, IA. This pushed our season snowfall total to 76.2 inches, breaking the all-time record of 75.7 inches set in 1962. Since November 21, snow has fallen on 40 different days this winter.

MAR 6 – We received 1.3 inches of snow yesterday. That brings a season total to 71.4 inches. We are now only 4.3 inches away from the all time record.

FEB 26 – 4.1 inches of greasy snow fell yesterday and this morning. This was accompanied by .60 inches of rain. The season total now stands at 66.4 inches. The record from 1961-1962 is 75.7 inches. With 22% of the seasons snow usually falling after this date, I think we have a shot at the record…

FEB 19 - Sunday’s storm brought a mixture of rain, sleet, freezing rain and snow. Dubuque, IA set a daily rainfall record for the day (1.15 inches) and 6.1 inches of snow fell. The snow total is now at 60.6 inches for the year. 29% of the total snow amount usually falls after this date.

FEB 7 – Yesterday’s snowstorm dropped around 14″ of snow in JoDaviess County. Nearby Winslow, IL received 18″. We are now experiencing the snowiest winter since the late 1970s.

FEB 1 – The winter of 2007-2008 has dropped 36 inches of snow on Dubuque, IA already. No one storm has produced more than 5.2 inches. Along with extreme cold spells, near record high temps and a record rainfall amount in December, the winter of 2007-2008 has been memorable, among other things.

Galena received around 20 inches of snow and ice in December. One of the snowiest and coldest Decembers in recent memory.

We live in an area of the world where we can experience the phenomenon of fall color change. Every year we ask ourselves, Will we have good fall color? Every year the show of colors is different, but why? With the glory of fall now in full effect, it’s time to look at the science of autumn beauty.

As many of you remember, clorophyll is what makes leaves green. Through the process of photosythensis sunlight is used to transform carbon dioxide and water into carbrohydrates which fuels the growth of the tree. During the spring and summer sunlight levels and tempuatures are high, making the photosynthetic process very active and keeping leaves green. As daylight hours and temperatures decrease the process slows down and the colors that remain in the tree leaves appear. Different tree species contain different chemicals such as: Anthocyanins (Reds & Purples), Carotenoids (Orange & Golds) and Tannins (Browns).  

With that simple rule in place we now look to what causes yearly and locational differences.

Temperature: The greatest opportunity for great fall colors are cool nights, but not below freezing. Early frosts will reduce the brilliancy of colors as it slows or stops the production of anthocyanins. New England states are known for their great fall colors because freezing rarely occurs early in the fall due to its proximity to the ocean.

Moisture: Stressed plants show their colors earlier than healthy plants. Drought years will produce more reds than usual as there is an increase of anthocyanins. Drought years will also produce colors earlier than usual. A wet spring will promote good color as stored sugars in the leaves are released.

Sunlight: Optimum conditions are for bright sunny days. During the ‘changing’ period sugars in the leaves are produced more rapidly when exposed to direct sunlight. This is why leaves on the outside of the canopy change faster and with more brilliancy. Fall weather that is overcast and rainy does not provide very showy displays.

To summarize, for optimum fall colors we would want all of the following conditions to be in place thoughout the year: A warm wet spring with favorable summer weather followed by sunny fall days with cool temperatures at night but not freezing. Easier said than done but certainly a dynamic part of nature that everyone can appreciate.

http://www.fs.fed.us/news/fallcolors/  US Forest Service Fall Color Hotline

The month of August has come to an end and the region can report rainfall totals of historic proportions. A persistent rain pattern formed early in the month and it did not end until it had caused record breaking amounts in many areas. The city of DeKalb, IL reported 14.27 inches of rain in August and 26.47 inches through meteorologic summer (June-Aug), both records. This reflects what occurred over much of the region. Portions of southwest Wisconsin and southeast Minnesota were declared federal disaster areas with as much as 17 inches falling in several days. The Chicago Metro area received close to 16 inches of rain including a storm outbreak on the 23rd that produced the most violent storm in recent memory. There were many economic and heartfelt losses throughout the area.

The most staggering of statisticts came out of Houston County in southeast Minnesota. During a 24 hour period on the 18th and 19th the county received 15.1 inches of rain, shattering the old mark of 10.84 set in 1972. This 24 hour total was two inches less than the all-time record for a single month, set in July of 1987.

The Galena area missed many of the heaviest rains. In total it received 6.27 inches of rain which fell on 23 of the 31 days of the month, including runs in which rain fell on 9 (17th-25th) and 8 consecutive days (2nd-9th). The normal total for August in the area is around 4.25 inches.

August Rainfall totals from the region (inches):

DeKalb, IL – 14.27;   Freeport, IL – 11.88;   Rockford, IL – 13.82;   Vernon Hills, IL - 15.14;   Dubuque, IA – 6.06;   Iowa City, IA – 8.02;   Waterloo, IA – 10.32;   Belmont, WI – 19.89;   LaCrosse, WI – 20.32;   Madison, WI – 15.18;   Platteville, WI – 11.94;   Prairie DuChien, WI – 8.04

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwest_flooding_of_2007

At month’s end today all reporting stations in the area reported more than average rainfall totals. The reports varied greatly as there were lots of isolated thunderstorms that produced heavy rains. The reporting station in Dubuque, IA recorded the highest amount with 8.84 inches, far more than the 3.73 inch normal. The Galena Territory reported 4.03 inches with 2.16 inches of that falling on the 17th and 18th, Mt. Carroll reported 6.09 inches and Stockton reported 3.40 inches for the month. Looks like the reporting station on Bethel Road near Stockton missed some of the soaking rains.

The temperature average was one degree cooler than normal. After a dry May we have caught up to near average precipitation for the year. After being dryer than normal for the past five years, lets hope that this continues.