Dear Tom,
Does lightning strike any parts of Chicago or the suburbs more often than other places? Is there a natural or man-made reason?
Rob O’Connor, Downers Grove, Ill.
Dear Rob,
Averaged over time, thunderstorm production is uniform across the Chicago area. Therefore the distribution of lightning, a product of thunderstorms, is fairly uniform as well.
In rough terrain, ridge tops and mountain peaks take more lightning strikes than close-by lower elevations, but that is not a factor in the relative flatness of metropolitan Chicago.
However, lightning preferentially targets taller structures. That means the upper portions of Chicago’s skyscrapers receive far more strikes than “close-by lower elevations” such as the streets surrounding them, which receive virtually none.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
Write to: ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Pl., Chicago, IL 60618 or asktomwhy@wgntv.com (Mail volume precludes personal response.)
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
