GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — I've been forecasting weather for over 40 years and I was today years old when I heard the term "pneumonia" cold front. I was wondering if this was another new-age term like "polar vortex" and "bomb-cyclone" and "pineapple-express"?
Apparently, it's a term first used by the National Weather Service in Milwaukee back in the 1960s. I've grown up and lived in West Michigan most of my life, closer to Milwaukee than most Americans. How did I not hear about this before?
What exactly is it?
A "pneumonia" cold front is otherwise known as a "back-door" or "lake-breeze" front. Most cold fronts generally move from W→E across the United States, or a variation of SW→NE or NW→SE. You get the idea. You might call it a "front-door" cold front (but nobody does).
A "back-door" cold front, on the other hand, comes from an opposite direction, such as N→S or NE→SW. These are quite common in the New England states.
A "lake-breeze" front occurs along the Great Lakes shorelines all year long, but it is especially noticeable from early spring through late fall, with cooler temperatures in the warm season and warmer temperatures in the cold season closest to the coastlines.
It's a temperature drop of 16° or more in one hour.
What's the pneumonia part?
I looked through quite a bit of literature, history and explanations as to why it's called a "pneumonia" front and found the information quite lacking.
So, here's what I think: you may think a rapid drop in temperature can give you a respiratory illness called pneumonia. It doesn't. Persons with compromised or weakened immune systems are more likely to "catch a cold" and end up with "pneumonia" as a result.
Temperature Timeline
As the front dropped down from the north/east the temperatures dropped dramatically along the Lake Michigan and Lake Huron shorelines.
- Sheboygan WI - from 76° to 62° between 3-4 p.m.
- Bad Axe MI - from 74° to 61° between 3-4 p.m.
- Milwaukee WI - from 81° to 57° between 4-5 p.m.
- Port Huron MI - from 79° to 61° between 4-5 p.m.
- Saginaw MI - from 78° to 63° between 4-5 p.m.
- Chicago IL - from 81° to 66° between 6-7 p.m.
Chief Meteorologist George Lessens
George is a graduate of Penn State University working for 13 On Your Side for over 42 years. He is a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM), a thirteen-time MAB® Weathercast Award Winner, two-time EMMY® Award Winner, NATAS® Silver Circle Award Winner, and Weather-Ready Nation® Ambassador.
Contact me at: GeorgeLessens@13OnYourSide.com
Follow me on Twitter @glessens and Facebook GeorgeLessensWZZM
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