Tornado watch issued for Chicago’s western suburbs, powerful storms may ultimately sweep into city toward Friday evening and night
A tornado watch has been issued for north-central and northwest Illinois—including western counties of the greater Chicago metropolitan area----until 7 pm this evening. Other sections of the Chicago area—including the city itself—could be at risk for active and possibly severe thunderstorms later this evening until around midnight Friday night if these storms hold together. Issuance of this watch by the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center indicates developing atmospheric conditions support severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes in AND NEAR the watch area. Humid air heated by Friday afternoon’s sunlight and twisted as it ascends into rotating supercell thunderstorms by powerful jet stream winds aloft are the driving forces behind a powerful eastbound squall line churning as of mid Friday afternoon across western Illinois. Radar scans of cloud top heights indicate the strongest these storms tower to heights of 47,000 ft.. Only the most vigorous thunderstorms grow to such heights. Several computer models, among them our in-house RPM (Rapid Process Mesoscale model) suggest these storms could hold together as they sweep into at least sections of extreme northeast Illinois between 7 and 10 p.m. Thunderstorms could last until midnight or shortly after.
Chicago area counties currently under a tornado watch until 7 pm include;
Boone, DeKalb, Kane, LaSalle, Livingston, Winnebago, Ogle, Lee, Kendall Grundy and McHenry.
Tom Skilling
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