1/21/2009 - Time Lapse of Statocumulus

I ventured out to my backyard this morning to capture about 10 minutes worth of some pretty stratocu traversing the DeKalb sky. I would've grabbed some more video, but the batteries died in my camera. Anyway, this is my first upload to youtube, so this should be interesting. I hope to add a lot more time lapse videos in the future since I'm always fascinated by them.

You will note that even this somewhat boring stratocumulus has some unique features that you would probably never see unless the video was sped up. If you take a look at the "open spots" in the cu (especially towards the end of the short video), you'll note what appears to be little vortices!

A higher resolution video is available here.

1/16/2009 - Record Cold!

Temperatures in the DeKalb area neared all-time record lows, with the DeKalb Cooperative Weather Station reporting a low of -20ºF on Thursday and -23ºF on Friday. No all-time record was set in DeKalb as the coldest reading recorded in the history of the station is -27ºF. However, we did "best" the day record for January 16th, which was originally -22ºF set in 1988.

On Friday morning, I ventured out to the Rochelle automated weather station station (an AWOS with the ID KRPJ, located about 15 miles west of DeKalb and NIU), which is notorious for reading some 5-15º colder than DeKalb.

The Rochelle (KRPJ) automated station on Friday morning. Uniquely, KRPJ does not sit in a noticeable valley where you would expect significant cold-air drainage. It is surrounded by "flat" corn fields and a long airport runway with little in the way of orography nearby.

On Thursday, the station reported -37ºF, which would be a new state record low temperature. However, as you can see via the report below, the reading was trimmed back a bit after further investigation.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO/ROMEOVILLE IL
145 PM CST THU JAN 15 2009

LOW TEMPERATURE REPORTS ACROSS NORTHERN ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA THIS MORNING...

***NO NEW STATE RECORD FOR ILLINOIS***

EARLIER TODAY THE AUTOMATED OBSERVING STATION AT THE ROCHELLE ILLINOIS AIRPORT IN SOUTHEASTERN OGLE COUNTY REGISTERED A TEMPERATURE OF -37 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT. THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN A NEW STATE LOW TEMPERATURE RECORD. HOWEVER...UPON INVESTIGATION...THE ILLINOIS STATE CLIMATOLOGIST FOUND THAT THE AUTOMATED EQUIPMENT HAD MALFUNCTIONED AND WAS READING 4 DEGREES TOO LOW. THIS HAS BEEN CORRECTED AND THE SITE IS NOW REPORTING A REPRESENTATIVE TEMPERATURE.

AS A RESULT...THE ALL TIME LOW TEMPERATURE RECORD FOR ILLINOIS
REMAINS -36 DEGREES SET AT CONGERVILLE ILLINOIS ON THE MORNING OF JANUARY 5, 1999

On Friday during my visit, the station recorded a low of -36ºF. If this temperature verifies, this will tie the state record mentioned above in the NWS Public Information Statement. Personally, I can verify that it was damn cold.

Screen capture of the coldest reading from the KRPJ AWOS on Friday morning. Is this a tie of the state record low?

Update: After further review by the state climatologist, Jim Angel, the KRPJ observation has been removed from consideration.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
432 PM CST FRI JAN 16 2009

..REGARDING ROCHELLE'S LOW TEMPERATURE THIS MORNING

THE AUTOMATED WEATHER OBSERVING SYSTEM (AWOS) AT THE ROCHELLE AIRPORT RECORDED A TEMPERATURE OF -36F AT 745 AM THIS MORNING. WHILE THE THERMOMETER ON THE AWOS WAS RE-CALIBRATED YESTERDAY AND MAY INDEED BE ACCURATE...AWOS OBSERVATIONS ARE NOT QUALITY CONTROLLED OR CALIBRATED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AND ARE ALSO NOT DESIGNED FOR CLIMATE PURPOSES. THEREFORE...THE STATE CLIMATOLOGIST DOES NOT CONSIDER THIS TEMPERATURE AN OFFICIAL MEASUREMENT FOR THE PURPOSE OF DETERMINING WHETHER OR NOT AN ALL TIME RECORD LOW FOR THE STATE WAS REACHED. FOR THE PURPOSE OF DETERMINING RECORD TEMPERATURES FOR THE STATE...ONLY ASOS AND COOPERATIVE OBSERVER OBSERVATIONS WILL BE USED SINCE BOTH OF THESE OBSERVATIONS ARE QUALITY CONTROLLED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

I'm trying to remember the last time our cooperative observer thermometer (MMTS) was calibrated at NIU, but I can definitely say it wasn't 24 hours ago. Nonetheless, an interesting climate record issue.

Minimum temperatures reported on Friday, January 16th, 2009. Click for larger image.

In addition to a visit to the automated station, I took in some of the neat steam and cloud features an ethanol plant was producing near the Rochelle AWOS. Below is a time lapse video of the plant, which is located near the junction of I-39 and I-88.

After my trip back to DeKalb, I stopped by campus to shoot some time lapse video of the steam plant located behind Altgeld Hall. It wasn't as impressive as I had hoped due to the orientation of the wind; however, it is still a neat movie. Altgeld Hall is in the center, with Davis Hall to the right and Founders Library to the left.

Finally, one last image that I believe summarizes nicely the bitter cold and snow we are enduring this winter in the Corn Belt of Illinois.

The sun sets on a lone tree in south DeKalb during a bitterly cold evening.