An eruption of powerful afternoon t-storms Tuesday sent damaging winds, clocked at times above 60 m.p.h., blasting across sections of Chicago’s southern suburbs. They turned deadly in unincorporated Porter County, Ind. between 3 and 4 p.m., when a 75 ft. tree was blown onto a car traveling on State Road 149, crushing the vehicle and killing its driver. The outbreak marked the second time in the three weeks since another major severe weather outbreak on April 26 that storms have lambasted the south suburban corridor extending from Will County east to St. Joseph County in Indiana. Notre Dame University’s historic Basilica was damaged and several 100 year old trees were downed on campus. Storms towered to heights of 48,000 ft. and exploded to life in Tuesday’s 80°+ warmth—the eighth such reading of 2007. Rains which accompanied the storms totaled as much as 1.11” at Beecher in Will County.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
