Dear Tom,
Has a tropical storm’s name ever been retired?
–Tom Urban, Oak Park
Dear Tom,
It has happened only once, and that was Tropical Storm Allison, which reached land near Houston on June 5, 2001. Though never achieving hurricane status, Allison, with top winds of only 58 m.p.h., was a slow-moving and prolific rainmarker much like recent Tropical Storm Fay. The storm brought more than 36 inches of rain to the Houston area as it meandered for days along the Texas coast. After drowning Texas, Allison’s heavy rains tracked across the Gulf Coast region and then turned northeast into southern New England and the Canadian Maritimes. It finally headed out into the Atlantic on June 18.
In addition to flooding, Allison produced 23 tornadoes and was responsible for at least 50 deaths and $3 billion in property damage. ———-
Write to: ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Pl., Chicago, IL 60618 or: asktomwhy@wgntv.com
Weather Report is prepared by the WGN-TV Weather Center, where Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN News at noon, 5:55 p.m. and 9 p.m.
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
IN THE WEB EDITION: For updated weather news, forecasts by ZIP code and local radar images, go to chicagotribune.com/weather or wgntv.com
