Melrose Park, Illinois

... Severe weather stats to date..

The severe weather season became much more active in the past ten
days including in parts of the Midwest. Significant tornado
events in Moore Oklahoma on may 20th and in Texas on may 15th
highlighted this active period.

Despite numerous periods of thunderstorms across the NWS Chicago
County Warning Area /cwa/ on may 19th-21st... the number of
reports thus far remains below normal. Across the Chicago
cwa... there have been 25 preliminary reports of severe weather.
This criteria includes hail of diameter one inch or larger... wind
damage... or wind gusts of 58 mph or stronger. Here is a look at
the number of reports vs normal:


All data through may 23rd...
                         2013* 20-year median 5-year median
severe weather reports 25 42 38
tornado reports 0 2 2

* preliminary

In the past decade... only 2010 had started with fewer severe reports
through this time. However... to show how that cannot be taken as a
strong predictor for the rest of the season... June 2010 would see a
considerable increase in severe weather including numerous tornadoes
on June 5th.


For warnings issued by the NWS Chicago office:

All data through may 23rd...
                         2013 20-year median 5-year median*
svr T-storm warnings 20 46 28
tornado warnings 0 5 3

* this period entails storm-based warnings instead of County-based
warnings used prior.


While there are chances of thunderstorms this Holiday weekend into
next week... the overall weather pattern is not as conducive for severe
storms at this past week. But the severe weather season is still
near its peak going into June and tails off slowly through Summer. The
recent severe and tornadic weather across the nation should serve as a
reminder of the importance of preparedness and having a plan of action.