03/29/09 Early Spring Winter Storm

Winter scenes like this found in Dekalb, IL this morning

Last night an early spring winter storm that produced a mammoth blizzard in the Texas panhandle and central plains earlier this week made its way to the Midwest yesterday. The day started with moderate rainfall with a mix of freezing rain and sleet. Finally, after midnight the rain changed to snow over northern Illinois and Dekalb. Due to the high moisture content of this snow it stuck to just about everything. My forecast of 4-5" of snow for Dekalb, IL looks like it verified with areas in Dekalb County reporting 4 and 5" of snow just as predicted, but far from the 8" or so models were projecting earlier in the week. The main issue with yesterday's system was the change-over to snow was gradual enough that it allowed some ice to accumulate on the trees. This combined with the snow accumulation on top of that put some stress on tree limbs causing many to break across campus. I was able to get some damage photos of this including a very large tree limb behind Davis Hall that couldn't withstand the weight of the heavy wet snow and ice. Other than tree damage across the county no real travel problems thanks to this storm occurring in late-March instead of January or February.

Altgeld Hall after the winter storm this morning

Nearly half of a tree laying amidst the snow

Roads pretty clear thanks to the near freezing temperatures and the wet nature of the snow made snow removal much easier on campus with this storm

More tree damage pictured (above)

Davis Hall winter scene

More damage from the winter storm behind Davis Hall

Entrance to Castle Drive

Amazing the things you'll find in the snow

Lots of crackling being heard in this wooded-area on campus

What a mess...

West Lincoln Highway this morning

Late March sun-angle doing wonders melting the snow already

More and more of these scenes

Campus view atop the parking garage

Another area across West Lincoln Highway

Geese in the East Lagoon probably wondering what season it is again as well as myself

Hopefully, this is the last "winter" post anytime soon. What a winter though that just keeps tallying up the snowfall total across Dekalb, IL. A quick look at the models shows that this active pattern will continue over the next week at least.

03/18/09 Spring Break 2009

A sure sign of spring in my backyard during spring break last week

After a warm near record "spring fling" over the last few days I figured I'd post some (spring) photos from last week while I was home. Spring Break 2009 didn't really feel like a spring break for myself with piles of work ahead of me and no planned trip to any of the many spring break destinations. The only thing that resembled spring break was the weather surprisingly. Last year, it was near 60 and yet again this year back in my hometown of Kewanee, IL it reached 60 for a couple of days. This felt good after a long northern Illinois winter. I also got to storm chase twice last week which usually never happens as usually the weather pattern is dull during that week every year it seems. What I did accomplish during the albeit brief break was experiment some more with my new macro-lens from Christmas. Ah...I'm beginning to like this lens more and more. There are just so many uses for this lens I'm finding...

One of our cats (macro-lens)

Over the next few weeks I'll be busy with projects and what not...the weather pattern is showing more signs of some severe weather scenarios especially early next week. Who knows maybe I'll find someway to storm chase yet again this month...ya never know...

02/13/09 Old Man Winter Returns to Dekalb

Holmes Student Center, the site of tomorrow evenings candlelight vigil 02-14-08

After a brief preview of spring last week with temperatures cracking the 60-degree mark Old Man Winter paid a returning visit this evening. A few hours of light-to-moderate snow fell across much or northern Illinois in response to a shortwave with WAA/isentropic lift over our area. Snowfall totals in and around Dekalb, IL ranged from 1-2" of new snow accumulation. However, this was a much weaker system as it came onto shore over the past day thankfully otherwise we might have been "buried". However, I did manage to get out late tonight to grab a few photos to add to my winter collection.

Altgeld Hall on a February night

The Escape covered in the fluffy accumulation outside Stevenson

The Northern Illinois University water tower

Davis Hall (long-exposure)

West-side of campus and the convocation center
(I grabbed this a few days ago, interesting sunset)

Happy Valentine's Day and Forward, Together, Forward as we remember 02-14-08 tomorrow.

01/28/09 Sarasota, FL 2008 Summer Vacation

Beautiful Siesta Key beach outside Sarasota, FL

It's the dead of winter so lets think Spring right? It's hard to believe I forgot to add pictures from last May's summer vacation, but then again when your chasing storms up and down Tornado Alley for months...sometimes you forget things. Anyhow, I thought I'd FINALLY add some photos from beautiful Sarasota, FL last summer. We ended up spending about a week in the sunshine state. Myself and Northern Illinois University graduates Chris Czapla and Jim Anderson were the group that made the trip. Our many stops included a trip to Orlando, FL to Universal Studios, Disney Land, and of course a couple beaches along the way after a long 2008 northern Illinois winter. One of the 2 beaches we visited was Siesta Key. It was ranked as one of the best beaches in the U.S. last year. Hopefully, this post will help with our winter doldrums in northern Illinois!

Palm trees as far as the eye can see

Cinderella's Castle at night (Disney Land Magic Kingdom)

Locals enjoying sailing and their jet skies

Beautiful bridge connecting the keys near Sarasota, FL to the peninsula

Palm tree in one of the parks we visited

Universal Studios in Orlando, FL

The "Twister" ride at Universal Studios

I wasn't in Tornado Alley and I still got a tornado ;) (Click this link to see the show)

A prop from the movie "Twister"

This is about as close as you ever want to be to a crocodile?

Crikey!

Magic Mountain

Lido Beach on Lido Key a few miles outside Sarasota, FL

Everyday we had classic sea-breeze thunderstorms around mid morning, yet to clear out by evening with many dry hours as well (Weather a little different on a peninsula)

More convection over downtown Sarasota, FL

Midway Airport with Chicago's magnificent sky-line in view

This was a great vacation and area to visit. It actually was the first beach I've seen...hard to believe right? I'll probably revisit this area in the near future. After chatting with some locals from Sarasota they brought to my attention that Sarasota and the Tampa, FL area have not been directly hit by a major hurricane in a long time. Locals however, fear that their "luck" will eventually run out. Hopefully it won't since this is a beautiful part of Florida to visit and live.

01/15/09 Dekalb in a Deep Freeze

A winter-view at dusk...Holmes Student Center (left) Founders Memorial Library (center) Davis Hall (right) and Farraday West Hall (far right)

Tonight, Dekalb, IL could see it's all-time record low temperature in jeopardy as clears skies, radiational cooling, a dense snow-pack, and arctic air already in place allows temperatures to plummet overnight. Our high for the day managed to "warm", i use that term loosely to -7ºF, but this was at midnight last night. In that regard, we really never recovered today even with the sun beaming down this afternoon which sets the stage for an even colder night. As I suspected the models didn't catch on last night and were too conservative on "their" forecast lows. We nearly reached -20ºF this morning as I for seen a possibility last night. Tonight, -20ºF should be no problem....in fact between -20 to -25ºF appears to be a good bet tonight here in Dekalb for our low temperature. The record is -27ºF (all time low), but -22ºF is tonight's record low...they are both in jeopardy. Hey, if it's this cold why not break them right? I added a few images from today: Yes, -15ºF didn't stop me from getting around. If you've lived in the Midwest your whole life you learn to deal with what old man winter has to offer.

Davis Hall amidst the deep snowpack

Altgeld Hall as the sun sets on our first of two brutally cold days

Davis Hall during the late-afternoon

Another winter view (late-afternoon)

View behind Davis Hall

Will we break the records here in Dekalb tonight? Well we'll know by dawn tomorrow. It's gonna be very close...