Tornado Watch Issued For Chicago Area As City Cleans Up From Damaging Storms
Block Club Chicago • • general
Key Points:
- Chicago is under a tornado watch until 9 p.m. Thursday, with potential winds up to 80 mph, hail, and flash flooding expected in two rounds of storms following a powerful storm the previous day.
- The National Weather Service warns that brief sunshine between storm lines could intensify the second round, possibly producing EF-2 tornadoes and heavy rainfall of one to three inches per hour.
- Wednesday’s storms, classified as a derecho, caused widespread damage including downed trees, power lines, shattered windows, and left nearly 180,000 ComEd customers without power in Chicago.
- City crews are actively working to clear over 5,000 reports of storm-related hazards, but some neighborhoods remain inaccessible due to fallen trees and debris.
- The Thursday storms differ from Wednesday’s derecho in that they may include supercell activity capable of producing tornadoes, posing an increased risk for localized severe weather.