A Timely Dive Into Historical Weather
Trees, tornadoes, and...tidal waves?
One look at this evening’s forecast flip-flops the adage about March weather - it seems this month will be going out like a lion.
The impending severe weather got me thinking about journal entries Grandpa Kammerer made detailing significant weather events impacting Chicagoland in the mid-century. I clearly inherited my fascination with weather from him, as he often wrote about interesting meteorological phenomena, significant and small.
Chicagoland is no stranger to severe weather and tornadoes, and there are two such major events that my grandfather chronicled in his journals. In 1954, he wrote that the day was “dreary after a squall passed thru about 7:00PM - a tornado reported in Kaneville, North Aurora, and Batavia. Violent thunderstorms followed here.”
More significantly, he described in his journal a string of severe weather in April of 1965 that resulted in severe damage and loss of life across the Great Lakes region of the Midwest:
Devastating tornadoes in Wis, Ill, Ind, Mich + Ohio. Many casualties - 250
First learned of the severity of last night’s serious tornadoes - on radio this AM. (Elkhart and Goshen hard hit - also Grand Rapids)
According to the National Weather Service, this outbreak of tornadoes, dubbed the Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak, was the fourth deadliest in our country’s history.
The closest event to the Arboretum that my grandfather noted seems to have been a tornado that ripped through the residential neighborhood just north of the property in April of 1966. In a letter to his brother, he wrote:
By now you have probably heard of the tornado which plowed through our area at 10:25 PM last night? Although there was some damage to trees along the river here in the Arboretum grounds, full burst of the storm was centered in Valley View, the large subdivision on Rt 53 just north of the Arboretum. Damage to the houses in the center of the area was estimated to amount to a half million dollars and about 18 or 20 houses were severely damaged. Our aerometer here in the Arb Center registered winds of 60mph - but in the heart of the storm 1/2 mile north of us it must have been double that. Fortunately there were no casualties. A number of the homes destroyed belonged to friends of…Crowley. I heard the roar of the wind as it passed through Warrenville a few minutes before. Had gone upstairs to close our south bedroom window when a sudden rain began to fall.
While tornadoes are not particularly unusual, this journal entry from June 26, 1954 certainly shocked me:
A tidal wave occurred in Lake Michigan this AM.
I had no idea this could even happen in our local great lake, so I took to Google and investigated this event. It turns out it really happened, and it isn’t necessarily a rare occurrence either! According to this Chicago Tribune article, meteotsunamis happen roughly 29 times a year in Lake Michigan. However, the 1954 wave that my grandfather wrote about was unusual, lasting longer and riding higher than a typical meteotsunami on the lake.
While we watch tonight’s forecast and hope for no extreme weather, it’s interesting to look back at meteorological events that shaped Chicagoland and the Arboretum from my grandfather’s point of view. The tools, instruments, and warning systems we have in place now didn’t exist during his lifetime. We’re certainly lucky to be better prepared for intense weather events whenever they occur.
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