National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Snow Across the Great Lakes, Central Appalachians, and Northeast; Unsettled Weather in the West

Light to moderate snow will continue into Saturday over the Great Lakes, Central Appalachians, and Northeast. This weekend into next week, a series of atmospheric rivers will bring gusty winds, periods of heavy rain, and mountain snow to northern California and the Pacific Northwest. Colder temperatures are in store for the weekend from the Great Lakes to East Coast. Read More >

Overview

On Saturday, an expansive and strong weather system impacted the area. This system had tropical moisture within it from the remnants of Tropical Storm Olga that had made landfall on Louisiana.  This system produced a 9-12 hour period of rain across much of northern Illinois and a 6-9 hour period for northwest Indiana. Rainfall rates were heavy especially late Saturday afternoon into the evening. This resulted in flooding developing over a few to several hour period, even borderline flash flooding in places.

Widespread rainfall of 1.50" to 3.50" were observed. Chicago O'Hare received 2.22", and of that 2.18" fell on October 26th. That was a record for that date. It also was the 10th calendar day in 2019 with over one inch of precipitation, and the 6th such day in just the past two months (since Oct 27) with 1+" of rain.

This system also brought gusty winds, with gusts to near 45 mph along the lakefront. This resulted in high waves peaking over 10 ft at the Wilmette, IL and Michigan City, IN buoys.

Radar
Radar snapshot from 6 pm on Oct 26. (loop)
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Additional recaps can be found on the NWS Chicago Past Events Page
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