Wild January Weather 44 Years Ago

First of all, I did not take the photos shown in the duotone compilation I created above. My mom or dad did. I was not quite ten years old at the time. Our family's snowbound house and street in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, was the product of some extraordinary weather in the last week of January, 1967. It started on January 24. A low pressure system centered over west central Iowa trailed a rare winter warm front heavily laden with high moisture content from the Gulf of Mexico. The unseasonably warm conditions had given the state capitol of Des Moines a high of 62 degrees that day. As arctic air eventually overran the warm layer on that Tuesday afternoon, thunderstorms erupted, spawning 14 tornadoes in Iowa, 9 in Missouri, 8 in Illinois and 1 in Wisconsin. In just a few hours temperatures began plummeting 30 degrees or more as the front moved east. Less than two days later a trailing secondary low pressure system provided moisture in the form of snow--and lots of it. In Chicago, where it had been a balmy 65 degrees on January 24, snow began to fall around 5:00 AM on Thursday, January 26 and didn't stop until around 10:00 AM, January 27. The mood of most Americans on January 27 was as somber as the weather--there was Vietnam, and a tragic fire during a ground test that killed Apollo 1 astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. The eventual 23-24 inches of snow that fell on Chicago during a 24-hour period was a record. The city then received an additional 4 inches of snow on February 1 and 10 more inches on February 5, leaving the area with an astounding 38 inches on the ground! Snow cover persisted well into the month of March. The tornadoes that occurred in Iowa in the month of January remain the first and only time this has happened in that state. The photos shown above were taken after the Chicago blizzard was over, probably on the morning of January 28. The middle two photos look south and show Fire Station No. 21 on Flagstaff Lane in Hoffman Estates. The photo at bottom right shows St. Hubert School, located just west of the fire station.

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Dusk Silhouettes

Building units at Colton Circle Condominiums in Cedar Rapids, Iowa stand out in vivid silhouette at dusk around 5:35 PM, Wednesday, January 12, 2011. This image, looking southwest, was shot from the parking lot at Noelridge Christian Church on C Avenue NE. A little over two hours later, this clear sky became completely clouded over.

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Mercury Achieves Greatest Elongation

Mercury, always a challenge to observe because of the planet's close proximity to the sun, achieved its greatest western elongation Sunday morning, January 9, 2011. This nine-second exposure at f/6.3 of a clear southeastern sky captured Mercury (left center between power lines and horizon) just 2 1/2 hours before its greatest elongation (maximum angle between the sun and an inferior planet as seen from Earth). Mercury's apparent magnitude was -0.22. The bright star between the power lines at right center is the red giant Antares, in the constellation Scorpius. The brightest object at upper right is the planet Venus, which achieved its own greatest western (morning) elongation the previous day. This image was shot around 6:30 AM, January 9 along Boyson Road near Timber Oak Place in Marion, Iowa. The artificial lights along the horizon at right belong to the city of Marion. Air temperature at this time was -1 degree F.

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Orion And His Dogs

The constellation Orion (center), the Great Hunter in Greek mythology, glitters in the southeast sky around 10:20 PM, Tuesday, January 4, 2011. "Following" Orion are his "dogs," the constellations Canis Major (Greater Dog, lower left) and Canis Minor (Lesser Dog, upper left). The star Sirius in Canis Major, also known as "The Dog Star," is the brightest star in the sky, glowing at a magnitude of -1.47. Appearing as bright or brighter in this image is Procyon in Canis Minor. Although very bright, Procyon is actually dimmer than Sirius, glowing at a 0.37 magnitude. The star at top left is Alhena in Gemini, shining at a 1.90 magnitude. This 12-second exposure at f/3.5 and an ISO of 800 was taken from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The brownish splotches between Canis Major and Orion are clouds.

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Faint Quadrantid

With the peak actually coming before midnight in the Midwest on Monday, January 3, 2011, viewing of the Quadrantid meteor shower from Cedar Rapids, Iowa was very difficult as skies were mostly cloudy in the early evening hours. This viewing opportunity came before dawn the next morning as skies cleared. This 30-second exposure at f/3.5 with an ISO of 400 was captured around 5:25 AM, January 4. It looks northeast and includes a faint meteor streak located in the constellation Draco at top center. At right center is the constellation Hercules. The bright star Vega in the constellation Lyra is seen partially obscured by the tree branches at center lower. A 12 degree F air temperature with windy conditions made it feel colder than the -3 degree F morning I had on my Geminids photo vigil on December 14.

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Christmas Eve Snow

Heavy snow falls at Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 10:25 AM, December 24, 2010. This view looks west from the park's eastern perimeter.

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