Tag Archives: Weather

Storm Photos: Gotta Work On Those Lightning-Fast Reflexes

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Our weather here in Chicago has been pretty crummy lately, with most of the past few days interrupted by rain, including some pretty hefty thunderstorms. On the other hand, this has given me an opportunity to feed my latest obsession, which is trying to catch lightning, if not in a bottle, then at least with my camera.

I have managed, though patience and a bigger portion of dumb luck, to capture a few lightning bolts in still photos. But this dandy Sony NEX-3 camera I have also takes HD-quality video, so I decided during last night’s storms to see what I could catch with that. The results are pretty interesting.

The following are stills captured from the videos I took. Most of the lightning while I was at this was cloud to cloud…

… but I did manage to capture this bolt from the black…

The problem with capturing lightning is, of course, that it comes and is gone in a flash. In this sequence, the sky is dark…

…. then is totally ablaze with white light five one-hundredth of a second later…

…. but this faux-daylight is gone in one-hundredth of a second, replaced again in very short order with complete darkness.

I plan to keep working on this. This being Chicago weather, I am sure that I will have ample opportunities.

The Lake Shore View: Signs Of Chicago Spring, In Lake And Sky

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Last July, on the day after we moved to Chicago, we experienced an epic thunderstorm. For a lifelong weather junkie, it was exhilarating to watch from the 30th floor as vivid cloud-to-ground lightning flashed across a panaroma of dozens of miles.

It was a little frightening, too, especially when it started to hail heavily (this was the same storm that inflicted severe damage to greenhouses at the city’s Garfield Park Conservatory). At that time, we were still waiting for the moving van to arrive from the East, and our apartment was completely empty save for two canvas folding chairs and an Aerobed. The hailstorm created the sensation of being trapped in a box suspended 300 feet off the ground while being pelted by small stones.

Ever since, I’ve wondered if I’d ever master capturing photos of lightning, especially since I bought the cool camera (a Sony Nex-3) that is responsible for most of the photos on the blog. Last night, I got a chance to try as a spring storm lit up the skies around midnight. While I’ve got a lot of work to do to get this just right, here’s what it looked like out the western windows.

Shooting toward the lake is more problematic, as the reflection off the water turns lightning into more of a blinding flash. Most of my attempted shots produced nothing but pure white lightning. Here’s one that at least kept a little scenery for perspective.

The weather forecast suggests I may get some more opportunities to practice tonight. It comes complete with a severe storm watch, so be careful out there.

There are, however, an increasing number of the more benign signs that spring is nigh, for real this time.

For instance, there are….

… some boats docked in the marina at Belmont Harbor! And as you can see in the background above and more clearly here, it’s also sailing-class season.

So how’s the weather been? Let’s catch up with the Chicago vs. D.C. Weather Smackdown to find out. According to Weather Underground…

Last Sunday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 66, a low of 45 and a trace of  precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 74, a low of 48 and no rain. A close call, but a slight edge for D.C.

On Monday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 63, a low of 41 and a trace of precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 69, a low of 53 and a trace of rain. Another  narrow win for D.C.

On Tuesday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 46, a low of 34 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 68, a low of 45 and no rain. Well, that’s a no brainer.

On Wednesday, I had a ticket to the Cubs game. You know where this is going. Chicago Midway reported a high of 54, a low of 32 and no precipitation. But Washington Reagan National reported a high of 56, a low of 40 and .01 rain. Close enough to cut Chicago a break.

On Thursday, Chicago Midway reported a high of 63, a low of 32 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 63, a low of 42 and no rain. The point goes to Chicago on the “above seasonal average” rule.

On Friday, Chicago Midway reported a high of 66, a low of 40 and no rain. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 67, a low of 45 and no rain. Point Chicago (see above).

And on Saturday, I finally got a little warm weather for a baseball game, and we dodged the threat of rain. Naturally, this was a home game for the South Side Chicago White Sox and not the Cubs. Chicago Midway reported a high of 67, a low of 54 and .16 of an inch of  precipitation (almost all of that very late at night). Washington Reagan National reported a high of 75, a low of 46 and no rain. Point: D.C.

All that edges D.C.’s overall lead to 139-115.

The Lake Shore View: Brewing Up Another Cold One

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I’ve allowed the Cooler on the Lake Shore Chicago vs. D.C. Weather Smackdown to get a little dusty — perhaps it’s pollen — so I’ll take a sec here to get caught up. And to use this as an excuse to reprise the full moon photos of the other night.

The moon itself is a tad blurry in these photos because they were shot from our living room through the thick window glass necessitated by the gale-force winds we get with some regularity here on the 30th floor. But the moonlight bathing Lake Michigan is, I think, something to really behold.

Now you’ve already gotten a blogful of my whining about how frigid the wind chill was at Wrigley Field when I attended the Cubs’ Opening Day game there this past Thursday. So I thought I’d better prepare you for the fact that I have a ticket for another daytimer this Wednesday afternoon, when the Cubs are scheduled to play the Milwaukee Brewers. And the forecast high again is a robust 50 degrees.

At least they aren’t predicting the 30 mile per hour gusts that made Opening Day such a three-hours-in-a-meat-locker experience. At least they aren’t predicting that yet.

Here’s the rundown on about a week’s worth of weather…

On Saturday, March 31, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 50, a low of 39 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 64, a low of 48 and no rain. Point: D.C.

Last Sunday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 57, a low of 42 and .06 of an inch of  precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 64, a low of 47 and .07 of an inch of rain. A close call, but a slight edge for D.C.

On Monday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 62, a low of 47 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 62, a low of 47 and .08 of an inch of rain. Dry weather is the tie-breaker for Chicago.

On Tuesday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 70, a low of 48 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 73, a low of 42 and no rain. Close enough to call it for Chicago under the spring “well above normal” rule.

On Wednesday, Chicago Midway reported a high of 58, a low of 46 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 76, a low of 53 and no rain. Obviously, a point for D.C.

On Thursday, the aforementioned Sheffield Avenue Freeze-Out at Wrigley, Chicago Midway reported a high of 49, a low of 38 and no precipitation.(At least it didn’t rain!) Washington Reagan National reported a high of 63, a low of 47 and no rain. Point D.C.

On Friday, Chicago Midway reported a high of 53, a low of 33 and no rain. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 62, a low of 42 and no rain. Point D.C.

And on Saturday, the weather bounced back smartly for the Cubs’ second game of the season (grrrrr…). Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 67, a low of 34 and a trace of  precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 65, a low of 42 and no rain. Point: Chicago.

A slightly better weather week in D.C. builds its overall lead to 135-112.

The Cold Facts About Opening Day At Wrigley

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Before the start of Thursday’s season-opening game at Wrigley Field between the hometown Chicago Cubs and the Washington Nationals, I posted a photo of the beautiful little antique ballpark with the note: I don’t often have opportunities to feel like I’m five years old again, but my first Opening Day at Wrigley Field was one of them.

That took on a somewhat different spin a couple of hours later, when a brutal north wind on an already chilly day completed its work of knifing completely through my body. At that point, my inner five-year old started whining, “It’s too cold. I wanna go home.” But my grown-up, baseball-besotted self told my inner child that he’d have to tough it out, because it was a close game with an uncertain outcome, and we were staying to the end even if hell froze over.

I won’t take offense at this point if you conclude that it’s probably a good idea that I never had children.

Yes, it was that cold at the ballpark on a day when the high temperature only flirted with 50 and winds gusted up to 30 miles per hour. And Mr. Weather Junkie, who has spent numerous days outdoors watching games in weather conditions ranging from inclement to bizarre, wore four layers, none of which was a heavy wool sweater. That turned out to be only about three layers short of what was needed for anything resembling a comfort zone.

My predicament was that my seat was near the top of the upper deck. I’m not sure why, but the upper deck at Wrigley has its own climate zone that, when the wind is howling, is straight outta Yukon. I swear, I started hallucinating snow.

So put another 40-something-degree Opening Day at Wrigley in the books. Here are my top takeaways.

1) Strangely enough, I will remember my first Opening Day at Wrigley with great fondness. Now that I’ve recovered feeling in all of my extremities, it really won’t be the three-hours-in-a-meat-locker sensation that I will carry with me to the end of my days.

I really do have a thing about this ballpark. I was still a relatively stranger to Chicago when Barb and I went to my first game at Wrigley, a weekday matinee 30 years ago this June, and it was the first thing I feel in love with in a city where I would later feel so at home. And even though I’ve been there dozens of times since, it’s like a fresh start every time I walk in for the first time in a year and see this:

And I still haven’t gotten over the kick that after years of making pilgrimages to Wrigley from hundreds of miles away, I now live a lazy 15-minute stroll from the old ballpark. The fourth high-rise from the left, partially obscured by the roof of Wrigley Field, is our apartment building.

2) I won’t forget how cold I was, though. Okay, so maybe I got a little cocky. I have tickets to three more games in April: daytimers at Wrigley next Wednesday and at the White Sox’ second scheduled game a week from Saturday, and then my plunge into night baseball — and the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry — on the 23rd. And unless that freakish beach weather we had last month makes a comeback, my thick green Aran sweater is going to be part of my uniform.

During the March heat wave, I noted on this blog that I had an Opening Day ticket, and asked, “While I, like most Chicagoans, am relishing this wholly unexpected stretch of weather bliss, I have this one creeping worry: Am I being set up?”

Yes. I was.

3) This team will self-destruct in five seconds. I really do believe that better days are ahead for the Cubs and the end of the curse — this team hasn’t won a World Series since 1908 or even been to one since 1945 — is almost nigh. The arrival last winter of Theo Epstein from a stint as general manager that saw the Boston Red Sox break their own curse and win the World Series twice has restored hope to fans better known for their brief springtime bouts of hopeless optimism. (The ChicagoSide website has an excellent piece on Theo’s three-year plan to make the Cubs a National League powerhouse.)

Still, for at least the first game of 2012, the Cubs showed they have not lost their well-weathered capacity for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Cubs couldn’t gave gotten a better gem of a start than the one they got from veteran right-hander Ryan Dempster. After pitching out of trouble in the first inning and then loading the bases with one out in the third, he retired 15 Washington batters in order. When he left the game after 7-2/3 innings with a 1-0 lead, he had given up just two hits and three walks while striking out 10 Nationals.

But he left with a runner on first base because, with one out in the seventh, first baseman Jeff Baker had let an easily playable grounder by Washington’s Ian Desmond slide past him into right field for what was generously scored a hit.

In came reliever Kerry Wood, who was forced years ago to cut short a potentially brilliant career as a starter because of injuries. Cubs fans greeted him warmly upon his arrival on the mound, but not so much when he left several torturous minutes later after he issued consecutive walks to Nationals star Ryan Zimmerman, cleanup hitter Adam LaRoche (who had struck out in all three of his previous plate appearances), and Jayson Werth (who also had gone 0-for-3 before his eighth inning free pass).

Wood did manage to get former Cub Mark DeRosa to ground into a force play to end the madness, and regular closer Carlos Marmol retired the first two batters in the top of 9th. But then… veteran rightfielder David DeJesus, a career American Leaguer who the Cubs picked up from the Oakland Athletics in the off-season, got schooled that a windy day at Wrigley Field is outfielder Hell. Circling a high drive by Washington pinch hitter Chad Tracy like a light plane struggling to make a landing, DeJesus got as far as Wrigley’s famously unpadded brick wall — and missed the ball, with Tracy trotting into second base for a double. Desmond then sliced a single to right, scoring pinch-runner Brett Carroll with what would be the game winner.

Still, the Cubs had one more chance to blow a chance to win, and they seized it. The Wrigley wind giveth and taketh away, and with one out in the bottom on the ninth and veteran reliever Brad Lidge trying for his first save as a National, Cubs third baseman Ian Stewart hit a drive to right that Werth, Washington’s rightfielder, similarly couldn’t track while Stewart dashed to third with a triple. But with pinch-runner Joe Mather just 90 feet away from tying the game, Baker smacked the first pitch right to Zimmerman at third, and he tossed the ball to catcher Wilson Ramos to nail Mather at the plate. The game was capped when Cubs center fielder Marlon Byrd worked the count full … then took a called strike for the third out.

Oh, well, I’ve got a chance next Wednesday to get back to .500 as fan. The extended forecast is again for a high around 50. Think I’ll practice wearing that Aran sweater again.

You can find my game photos at Nationals 2, Cubs 1: The Opening Day View From The Cheap(er) Seats. My photos of actor Bill Murray’s antics during the pre-game ceremony are at Maybe the Cubs Could Have Used Bill Murray DURING the Game.

Guess It Will Be The Beer Barrel Parka For Cubs’ Opening Day After All

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So if you read my post last week about the Chicago Cubs’ Opening Day weather prospects and thought that the eight-days-out forecast of 64 degrees was overly optimistic — you’re a genius. With every day that has passed, the prediction has gone down… and down… and down. And now, the National Weather Service predicts a high of 45 degrees for Thursday’s opener; the Weather Channel pegs it a bit more generously as 52 degrees.

But sunny! Sunny is good. The Cubs’ opening game in 2003 was postponed. By snow.

Temperatures in the 40s are actually pretty much the norm for Cubs’ home opener. I trained for this game, my first Opening Day ever at Wrigley Field, by sitting outside in a cold rain for four hours at the Michigan State-Northwestern football game late last November. So 45 degrees and sunny? Ha! Bring it on!

I’ve got to keep this short, so here are some pretty spring pictures taken on the streets of Chicago yesterday. Yes, D.C., we have flowering trees, too.

Countdown To Wrigley: Nice Forecast. Will It Hold Up?

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[Update: We're down to five days out from Opening Day at Wrigley. And this being Chicago, it's not surprising that there is a range of opinion about the forecast for game day. The Weather Channel thinks it is going to be a brisk 54 degrees (yes, that's eight degrees lower than the forecast issued three days ago), but mostly sunny. Tom Skilling, the WGN-TV weather guru, is close to that: abundant sunshine but windy, with a high of 56. Accuweather says 57, but mostly cloudy. The meteorologists at Chicago Channel 7 have it sunny and 60. At least no one is talking about snow.]

The Chicago Cubs’ Opening Day game, next Thursday, is now just more than a week away. While I’ve been to historic Wrigley Field dozens of times, it is my first opener at the old ballpark. So I have a profound interest in what the weather is going to be like that day.

As of this moment, the outlook looks promising. Not the summer-like heat wave earlier this month that marked the transition from winter to spring, but ask any Cubs fan of longer standing than I have and they’ll tell you that a forecast of partly cloudy skies and a high of 64 degrees sounds pretty heavenly for an April 5 opener.

It can be very different.

The Cubs’ opponent for this year’s first game is the Washington Nationals. The last time the team that is now the Nationals played in a Cubs home opener was in 2003, when the franchise was still the Montreal Expos.

The game was scheduled for April 7, 2003. It was postponed. Because of snow. The grounds crew shoveled off the field and they pushed ahead to play the next day — when the high temperature was 32 degrees.

The Cubs won 6-1, the first win in a season that would take baseball’s most star-crossed team this close to its first World Series appearance since 1945… until the team suffered a collapse in the National League Championship Series against the Florida Marlins that has scarred its fans’ psyches ever since. (Yes, the Year of Bartman began with a snow-out.)

Yet just two years ago, on April 12, 2010, the Cubs opened their home season with a 9-5 win over Milwaukee on a 70-degree day.

So is there a “normal” for openers at Wrigley? More often than not over the past 10 years, it’s been pretty chilly. Along with Sheffield Avenue Freeze-out in 2003, there were five Opening Days on which the temperatures topped out in the 40s. One of these was April 1 last year, when the high was 45 (and the Cubs lost to Pittsburgh, 6-3).

Yet there four openers for which the weather was mild — 55 degrees in 2006, 60 in 2008, 61 in 2005 and that 70-degree topper in 2010. And the historic average high for April 5 in Wrigleyville is 53. Reason enough to at least keep our fingers crossed that the 64-degree forecast, eight days out, has a margin of error of less than 15 degrees.

As if mimicking the weather, the Cubs play in home openers over the past decade has run slightly more cold (six losses) than hot (four wins).

Meanwhile, how’s the Lake Shore View looking these days? Here’s a pastel sunrise from Tuesday morning, but there’s something missing. Namely, the sun, which has worked its way far enough north that its rise is blocked by our apartment building. Still pretty, though.

Catching up on the Cooler on the Lake Shore Chicago vs. D.C. Smackdown… according to Weather Underground…

On Saturday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 61, a low of 51 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 67, a low of 59 and .09 of an inch of rain. Above-average temps and no rain win that point for Chicago.

On Sunday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 71, a low of 43 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 62, a low of 51 and .20 of an inch of rain. No contest here.

On Monday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 47, a low of 37 and a trace of precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 60, a low of 42 and no rain. Easy win for D.C.

On Tuesday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 74, a low of 40 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 56, a low of 34 and no rain. A nice bounceback for Chicago. We should be so lucky on Opening Day.

On Wednesday, Chicago Midway reported a high of 68, a low of 46 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 72, a low of 46 and .01 of an inch of rain. Based on the averages for the date, I award that point to Chicago.

On Thursday, Chicago Midway reported a high of 48, a low of 40 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 70, a low of 50 and no rain. Point D.C.

On Friday, Chicago Midway reported a high of 54, a low of 40 and .25 of an inch of rain. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 54, a low of 43 and a trace of rain. Chicago out-crappied D.C. there.

That brings the overall score to D.C. 130, Chicago 109.

The Day St. Patrick Met St. Sebaldus

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Abundant sunshine. Temperatures around 80. Sailboats out on Lake Michigan, beyond the still-empty harbor.

Just your average St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago.

Get real. Chicago has never in recorded history seen a stretch of weather this warm and this long in mid-March. The average high temperature this time of year is 47. For three consecutive days dating back to Wednesday, the high has cracked 80, and it may do so again today.

For perhaps the first time ever, the pipers marching in Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Day parade today must have been glad to be wearing kilts for a reason other than ethnic pride. My sympathies go out to those whose marching uniforms are more calibrated to the way the weather usually is here on March 17.

It’s as though the patron saint of Ireland decided to take this year off, and had St. Sebaldus  stand in for him. “Saint Who?” you ask. Sebaldus was an 11th century German who is the patron saint against cold weather.  He also happens to be the patron saint of Nuremberg and of Bavaria, in case you were still wondering.

And no, not being of the faith, I didn’t know that until a few minutes ago myself. Amazing the stuff you can learn from the Internet.

Seems like a good place to catch up on the Cooler on the Lake Shore Chicago vs. D.C. Weather Smackdown. According to Weather Underground…

On Wednesday, Chicago O’Hare reported a record high of 81 — that’s 35 degrees above normal —  a low of 46 and no rain. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 81 (26 degrees above normal), a low of 54 and no rain. Holy virtual tie, Batman! But because this was so unprecedented for Chicago, it gets the point.

On Thursday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 81, a low of 48 and no rain. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 82, a low of 54 and a trace of rain. Same thing, folks.

On Friday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 82, a low of 46 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 59, a low of 51 and .02 of an inch of rain. No brainer on this one. So Chicago finally shows signs of making a comeback in the overall contest, cutting D.C.’s lead to 125-100.

And, yes, I’m a homer, even at this, and I will, when it’s feasible, put my thumb on the scale for Chicago. As I’ve said before, if you don’t like how the game is played, start your own weather contest.

 

The Lake Shore View: 3.14 x 81 Degrees = A Perfect 10

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I’m sure innumerable people have taken photographs of the Chicago skyline just like the following one I took at the lakeside between Diversey Harbor and Fullerton Beach this afternoon. But this one has a special distinction: It is one of the very few ever taken when it was 81 degrees on March 14 in Chicago.

And all of those pictures had to be taken today.

Today’s high temperature not only broke the standing record, it shattered it: The previous warmest March 14 was 76 degrees in 1995. Here are a few comparisons to illustrate how incredibly unusual this was:

* Today’s 81 degree high exceeded the average for this date by a mere 36 degrees.

* Last year on “Pi Day” (as 3.14 is known), the high temperature was 42, or slightly below the 45-degree average.

* The average high in Chicago does not reach 81 degrees until June 21, or right about the first day of summer. On March 14, it is still technically winter, with the first official day of spring still six days away.

The extraordinary thing about this pre-vernal heat wave is that it’s not a one-day fluke. In fact, according to the National Weather Service forecast, the high temperatures between now and the end of next week are expected to range between the low 70s and low 80s.

While I, like most Chicagoans, am relishing this wholly unexpected stretch of weather bliss, I have this one creeping worry: Am I being set up? You see, as I’ve mentioned, I have a ticket for the Chicago Cubs’ season-opening game on April 5, which is still three weeks from Thursday. While the average high for that date is actually 53 degrees, it has been known to be much colder on Opening Day at Wrigley Field.

It has also been known to snow.

So let’s turn this into a little contest. Make your prediction of what the high temperature will be on April 5, and whether there will be precipitation, and post it as a comment. I will buy the person who comes closest a drink of their choice.

I’ll let some more photos of my outing today carry the rest of the story, and finish by catching up with the Cooler on the Lake Shore Chicago vs. D.C. Weather Smackdown.

Shorts weather in Lincoln Park on March 14. Go figure.

The waterfowl are usually happy enough when there's no ice in Belmont Harbor this time of year.

A brisk breeze actually kept it from feeling too hot.

What's wrong with this picture? By the time it usually first hits 80 degrees in Chicago, this marina is full of boats.

Think this guy was loving life today? Throw me the ball!

Leafless tree, shirtless guy. Summer in March. Not a lot of shade out there, not that anyone cared.

Now in the Smackdown…. according to Weather Underground…

On Friday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 40, a low of 28 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 67, a low of 41 and .01 of an inch of rain. Point D.C.

On Saturday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 60, a low of 27 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 50, a low of 34  and no precipitation. A clear win for Chicago!

On Sunday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 69, a low of 41 and a trace of precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 63, a low of 35 and no precipitation. Point Chicago.

On Monday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 65, a low of 52 and .19 of an inch of rain. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 72, a low of 45 and no precipitation. Point D.C.

On Tuesday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 70, a low of 45 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 81, a low of 56 and .01 of an inch of precipitation. This kills me, because yesterday was outrageously beautiful in Chicago, but I have to give this one to D.C. Overall score in the contest is D.C. 125, Chicago 97.

 

The Lake Shore View: Can We Haz Early Spring?

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With the weather forecasters predicting a full week of spring-like temperatures coming up, and with baseball Opening Day still about four weeks away, the question arises: Are we being set up?

Answer: Who cares? With a stretch of days with temps forecast in the 60s, maybe even pushing 70 a day or two, I see some long walks by the lake in my future.

Today was bright but chilly, with another of those beautiful Chicago sunsets.

Let’s catch up on the Cooler on the Lake Shore Chicago vs. D.C. Weather Smackdown. According to Weather Underground…

On Monday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 37, a low of 21 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 46, a low of 32 and a trace of precipitation. Point D.C.

On Tuesday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 68 (yes, that happened), a low of 31 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 49, a low of 29 and no precipitation. Point Chicago, obviously.

On Wednesday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 68, a low of 54 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 67, a low of 40 and no precipitation. Real close, but that is so far above normal for Chicago, it gets the point.

On Thursday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 63, a low of 37 and .28 of an inch of rain. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 74, a low of 53 and a trace of precipitation. Yep, one for D.C. That leaves the overall score at 122-96 in favor of D.C.

The Lake Shore View: When The Weather Goes WMD

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I’ve had a bit of fun with the weather since we moved to Chicago last summer. And it would be easy just to note that March came in like at least a lion cub: chilly temperatures, stiff cold breezes, a snow shower here and there.

But just a couple of hundred miles or so to the south and east, the same weather system that brought nuisance weather to Chicago spawned dozens of tornadoes that are reported to have killed at least 38 people and wreaked destruction from the sky as devastatingly as a fleet of bombers.

It was a reminder that tornadoes — an extreme rarity in Washington, D.C., where I lived for 30 years, and in the New York City area where I grew up — are more of a sad and scary fact of life in the nation’s midlands, where I am entering my first full spring as a resident. And this tornado siege came unusually early, as we are still about 16 days away from the vernal equinox that will signal the official start of spring.

So please keep the people who were victimized by the tornadoes in your thoughts, and if you can spare it, please make a contribution to the American Red Cross or other agencies providing relief. For those of us who think we’ve had a really bad day if we got caught in traffic or our train broke down or our flight was delayed or the cable guy kept us waiting, it’s hard to imagine what it would be like to have an average rainy day suddenly turn apocalyptic.

I’m certainly not going to complain about having mediocre weather in Chicago, under the circumstances. At one point this afternoon, the sun tried, without much success, to compete with a shower of barely perceptible snow.

Let’s catch up here on a few days of the Cooler on the Lake Shore Chicago vs. D.C. Weather Smackdown. According to Weather Underground…

On Monday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 40, a low of 27 and no precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 64, a low of 34 and no precipitation. Point for D.C., obviously.

On Tuesday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 47, a low of 25 and .08 of an inch of precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 56, a low of 40 and no precipitation. Closer, but still point D.C.

On Wednesday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 60 (that’s 19 degrees above average for the date, a low of 35 and .19 of an inch of precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 56, a low of 40 and a swampy 1.44 inches of precipitation. Point for Chicago.

On Thursday, Chicago O’Hare was way back to normal, reporting a high of 39, a low of 35 and a trace of precipitation. Washington Reagan National went way in the other direction, reporting a high of 70 (19 degrees above normal), a low of 46 and .05 of an inch of precipitation. Point D.C.

On Friday, Chicago O’Hare reported a high of 41, a low of 35 and .19 of an inch of precipitation. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 55, a low of 40 and .34 pf an inch of precipitation. Crummy in both towns, but D.C. was warmer.

That brings D.C.’s overall lead to 118-94.