Severe storms were expected to sweep through the Chicago area on Friday evening, bringing the threat of damaging winds, large hail, possible tornadoes and localized flooding as the National Weather Service issued a string of warnings across the region.
The Weather Service issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Cook and Lake counties until 9:30 p.m., a Flash Flood Warning for Lake, McHenry and Boone counties until 2 a.m., and Tornado Warnings for LaSalle County until 8:45 p.m., Lake County in Illinois until 9 p.m., DeKalb County until 8:30 p.m. and McHenry County until 8:15 p.m. It also posted a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for LaSalle, DeKalb, Lee and Kendall counties until 9:15 p.m. and another for McHenry, Kane and DeKalb counties until 8:30 p.m.
Earlier in the evening, the Weather Service had placed Cook, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Grundy, Lake and Will counties under a Tornado Watch until 11 p.m. CDT, while DeKalb, LaSalle and McHenry counties in Illinois and Kenosha County in Wisconsin were under a separate watch until 8 p.m. CDT. Another round of active weather was expected across the Chicago area and Northwest Indiana on Friday, with storms developing between roughly 5 p.m. and midnight.
FOX 32 Chicago Meteorologist Kaitlin Cody said highs would climb to around 80 degrees under partly sunny skies before gusty winds reached up to 30 mph ahead of the next system. The greatest tornado risk was expected near and west of Interstate 39, underscoring how quickly the threat could shift from one county to the next as the evening went on.
The region was facing repeated severe-weather threats in a single day, with storms, tornadoes, hail and flooding all in play at once. For anyone watching a tornado map Friday night, the key point was simple: the highest risk was not spread evenly, and the counties west of Interstate 39 were the ones to watch most closely.