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2008: "Pneumonia Front" causes big temperature drops in Chicago

2008: "Pneumonia Front" causes big temperature drops in Chicago

Author: AccuWeather May 26, 2022 Duration: 1:59
This Date in Weather History
History
The term Pneumonia front, first coined by Milwaukee Weather Bureau Office in the 1960s,  is used to describe a rare meteorological phenomenon observed on the western Lake Michigan shoreline during the warm season. These fronts are defined as lake-modified small scale cold fronts that result in one-hour temperature drops of 16 °F or greater.  They do not necessarily have to be large scale, cold fronts to bring weather changes to an entire region. Very often in the spring to early summer the temperature difference between the cold lake waters and the warmer air over land can be as much as 35–40 °F . Under weak prevailing winds, an air current can often develop in the form of a lake breeze that moves from that water to the adjacent shoreline to as much as several miles inland. This "lake-breeze cold front" can drop temperature in places like Chicago, Milwaukee and Green Bay significantly as they cross the area. There has been many a spring day at Wrigley Field that surprises Cub fans who may have travelled from an inland location toward the shore to take in an afternoon game at Wrigley just a few blocks from the lakeshore, only to feel the effects of the "pneumonia front" as that cold blast of air comes through. On May 26, 2008 such a front caused temperatures to drop in Chicago from 72 at 10 pm to 55 an hour later. Winds had gone from light and westerly to northeasterly with gusts up to 40 mph along the lake. Other areas along the lake dropped from the mid 76 to the upper 40s

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Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

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This Date in Weather History
Podcast Episodes
1930: One of the few hail deaths in the US occurs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:42
Hailstorms are notorious for inflicting costly damage upon property and crops every year in the United States. Annually, the destruction from these frozen rain pellets that travel dozens of miles per hour through the atm…
1934: Massive dust storm strikes Eastern US cities [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:02
Newspapers and radio stations East of the Mississippi on the morning of May 12, 1934 carried ominous messages and headlines of a thickening black cloud of chocking dust and dirt moving out of the Great Plains states. The…
2003: Record tornado outbreak impacts 25 US states [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:42
The first week of May in 2003 had one of the worst tornado outbreaks on record in the United States reports indicate that 384 tornadoes occurred in 25 states, causing 42 deaths with at least 23 tornadoes on each day. Har…
1889: Destructive tornado touches down in Reading, PA [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:36
May of 1889 was particularly warm and humid across the eastern United States. The jet-stream that steers weather system had lifted far north into Canada and air from the steam Gulf of Mexico has surged northward into the…
1977: Powerful snowstorm strikes Northeast US [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:38
One of the most powerful May snowstorms to strike the Northeast hit on May 9, 1977. 13" fell at Gardiner, MA; 12.7" at Worchester, MA; 1/2 million people lost power. Officially 1/2" in Boston, but thunderstorms with snow…
1360: Massive storms impact outcome of Hundred Years War [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:49
The hundred Years War between England and France began in 1337; by 1359, King Edward III of England led a huge army across the English Channel to France. The French did not engage in any pitched battles and mainly stayed…
1840: Deadly Tornado strikes Natchez, MS [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:33
Natchez, Mississippi was a bustling and booming river town hard against the Mississippi River in 1840, it was 20 years after Mississippi joined the union and 20 years before the Civil War. But on May 7, 1840 the second d…
1937: The Hindenburg Disaster [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:18
The airship Hindenburg, the largest dirigible ever built and the pride of Nazi Germany, bursts into flames upon touching its mooring mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 passengers and crewmembers on May 6, 1937. Af…
1761: 5" of snow falls in Ashford, CT [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:53
The office of the Town Clerk is the repository for the maintenance and safekeeping of records for the Town of Ashford, Conn. The Town reports that housed in the fire-proof vault in the office of the Town Clerk are all la…
1774: 4" of snow falls in Germantown, Philadelphia [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:37
The neighborhood of Germantown in Philadelphia sits at a higher elevation than most of the rest of the city. From 250-300 feet above sea level the temperature can average a degree or two colder than the city below. Durin…

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