Anniversary of the Killer Heat Event in Chicago 07-13-95

[mikegeukes]

A Meteorological Diagnosis of the Chicago Killer Heat Event of July 13, 1995
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lot/science/jul139...395/jul1395.htm

Mike

 

[Anthony Silver]

I was up in chi-town when all of that was going on...in fact I remember the event quite well. It was some of the MOST HORRIBLE heat I've ever experienced in my life!

 

[Dan Cook]

I remember that awful summer. The heat wouldn't even go down at night.

I think that this was one of Chicago's worst disasters, with 500+ deaths.

 

[Joel Wright]

Yeah it was pretty unusual. Dewpoints don't usually cross the 80° mark when the ambient temperature reading rises above 100°.

 

[Craig Maire II]

Heat

Weren't most of the people who died elderly?? I think many of them couldn't afford airconditioning etc. Hope this event never repeats itself again.

 

[David Draun]

I've read case studies of that event, soundings, reports, etc. They say CAPE was as high as 8000+ J/Kg at the height of the heat wave. There had to be a big 'ol thermonuclear cap on the atmosphere as well, or there would have been a violent convective explosion!

 

[Kevin Bowman]

Originally posted by David Draun
I've read case studies of that event, soundings, reports, etc. They say CAPE was as high as 8000+ J/Kg at the height of the heat wave. There had to be a big 'ol thermonuclear cap on the atmosphere as well, or there would have been a violent convective explosion!

And where the cap blew along the rim of fire, they had some huge derechos, particually the Adirondacks Derecho

 

[David Draun]

From the looks of things, here's another deadly heat wave in the works 10 years later! :shock:

 

[Warren Eckels]

Re: Heat

Originally posted by Craig Maire II
Weren't most of the people who died elderly?? I think many of them couldn't afford airconditioning etc. Hope this event never repeats itself again.

Yes, most of the people who died were elderly. Air conditioning might have saved their lives if they were lucky enough to be in a part of the city that did not suffer electrical outages -- a large swath of the North Side lost power for most of the heatwave. At the time, much of Chicago's electrical grid used transformers built in the 1920s, which blew up.

Between global warming and the expansion of Chicago's heat island, similar temperatures are almost assured in the city. The lethality will probably not be equalled since the city goes on alert when the heat index approaches 100 -- the elderly get visited and called, cooling centers open and people are encouraged to call 311 for heat-related problems.

 

[Craig Maire II]

Warren wrote:
The lethality will probably not be equalled since the city goes on alert when the heat index approaches 100 -- the elderly get visited and called, cooling centers open and people are encouraged to call 311 for heat-related problems.

Well its definitely good that the city etc. has a heat emrgency plan, just to bad it took around 700 people to die before it was implemented. :shock:

 

[David Draun]

I just called the family, they're saying well over 100 possible this weekend. :shock: The cold summer of 2004 is now forgotten.

Hey Craig, your avatar, it looks like you're about to throw a 4-seam fastball with that piece of baseball sized hail! :lol:

Hot stuff in the midwest, I guess they're having a taste of what I'm living with every day.

 

[Kevin Bowman]

the media in Chicago is going nuts for this weekend. Chicago is already calling people and warning them. i got a call from niles today warning me also about the 100+ degree temps. One of the weatherguys on wgn radio said the max temp possible is 106-107 :shock: . it might not be the sw but for Chicago thats extreme heat

 

[Craig Maire II]

They get 107F temps in Chicago and it will truly become an emergency situation! Tommorow looks to be the warmest day of the year so far, temps will be around 100F with DPS approaching 80F! Our low for tomorrow night will be around 80F... :shock:

 

[Kevin Bowman]

Originally posted by Craig Maire II
They get 107F temps in Chicago and it will truly become an emergency situation! Tommorow looks to be the warmest day of the year so far, temps will be around 100F with DPS approaching 80F! Our low for tomorrow night will be around 80F... :shock:

of course all this could change and tomorrow could be much to do about nothing if a couple of storms pop

 

[Robert Dewey]

Originally posted by Kevin Bowman+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Kevin Bowman)</div>

<!--QuoteBegin-David Draun

I've read case studies of that event, soundings, reports, etc. They say CAPE was as high as 8000+ J/Kg at the height of the heat wave. There had to be a big 'ol thermonuclear cap on the atmosphere as well, or there would have been a violent convective explosion!

And where the cap blew along the rim of fire, they had some huge derechos, particually the Adirondacks Derecho[/b]

The Derechos of 1995:

The "right turn" derecho was by far the worst. That length of that track is absolutely amazing (from MT to PA) :shock:

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/c...age.htm#2nd1995