‘Weather is cool’: Weird Chicago weather, from northern lights to water spouts

Curious City

WBEZ Chicago

Investigation, Chicago, Radio, Arts, Society & Culture, Public, Education, Curious, City

4.6 • 661 Ratings

🗓️ 15 January 2026

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Thanks to the powerful force that is Lake Michigan and the urban heat island that is Chicago, the city has witnessed some unusual and extreme weather events. Last episode was about lake-effect snow and a phrase you hear all the time: “Cooler by the lake.” But Chicago weather definitely gets stranger than that. We’re talking thundersnow, water spouts and even space weather. Why do these weather events happen, what makes them unusual and how can you have a little fun (safely!) when they come around? We talk with Jeff Frame, a teaching professor in the Department of Climate, Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Curious City is supported by the Poetry Foundation, with a reminder that Chicago is the pulse of poetry.
0:07.6	Visit the Poetry Foundation on the corner of Superior and Dearborn to explore their library of 40,000 books.
0:14.0	Attend public events and view Frenta La Vida facing life, a striking multidisciplinary art exhibition by Chicago artist Victoria Martinez.
0:23.1	Learn more at Poetry Foundation.org.
0:27.2	WBEZ's nonprofit spotlight is supported by UChicago Medicine, providing expert primary and
0:32.6	urgent care with locations throughout Chicagoland. Their walk-in urgent care locations offer a variety of services for adults and kids seven days a week.
0:40.9	No appointment needed.
0:42.3	And for the visits that can wait a day or two, flexible hours and online scheduling make it possible to find a primary care provider partner.
0:49.9	Learn more at UChicagoland.org.
0:52.7	What's up, Chicago?
0:53.6	I'm Erin Allen, and this is Curious City.
0:57.0	Last episode was all about a phrase you hear in Chicago all the time,
1:01.9	cooler by the lake.
1:03.6	Now, here's another weather phrase you might hear a lot in our area.
1:07.4	Oh, if you don't like the weather, just wait a day.
1:15.6	And it only happens in Chicago or it only happens in Illinois. That's a bit of a myth.
1:17.6	That is the voice of somebody who loves weather, Jeff Frame.
1:22.6	He teaches students about it at U of I's Department of Climate,
1:25.6	Meteorology, and Atmospheric Sciences
1:29.0	in Urbana-Champaign.
1:31.1	Jeff says that phrase, which is about Chicago's supposed weather volatility, is not really
1:37.5	that accurate.
	...

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