Storms jump Chicago—but produce 2.90” south

T-storms spared Chicago Wednesday. The city escaped with little more than sprinkles. But it was a different story just south. A sharp cold front, which swept across O’Hare at 10:27 a.m., shifted winds northeast, slashing temps 15° in the hour which followed, and setting the stage for explosive t-storm development across Chicago’s far southern suburbs. Wind-driven downpours were so heavy in the storms—some 40,000 ft. tall—that sections of western Kankakee county near Bonfield were swamped by 2.90” of rain. Hail and damaging winds occurred from Peoria east into central Indiana. By evening, 135 reports of severe weather had reached NOAA’s Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center from sections of 10 states from Texas east to Pennsylvania.
Record snow made headlines in Montana. Billings was walloped by 10.8”—the heaviest late season accumulation in that city since 1997.