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Chicago braces for two rounds of severe weather
Fox Chicago's Kaitlin Cody breaks down today's weather outlook.
CHICAGO - The Chicago area will have two rounds of powerful storms today, and severe weather is possible from late this morning through early overnight tonight.
Severe weather live updates
- 12:07 p.m. — A ground stop has been issued at O'Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport until 1:15 p.m. due to thunderstorms. The probability of an extension is medium, between 30% and 60%.
- Noon — A ground delay will be in effect at O'Hare Airport with average delays of nearly 3 hours until 11 p.m.
Chicago severe weather timeline
What to expect:
Right now, we are watching as thunderstorms are moving in from western Illinois, approaching Chicagoland shortly. We have the threat of straight-line damaging wind with this first round until roughly 1 to 2 p.m.
With the second round, we really have a concern for strong tornadoes, damaging wind, and also large hail. The Storm Prediction Center's outlook now has us in a level 4 out of 5 risk for severe storms, specifically for this evening. The moderate risk, that level 4 out of 5, is for Chicago points west, and in northwest Indiana, there is still an enhanced risk for severe storms, a level 3 out of 5.
Talking about the threats this evening, the biggest threat for the damaging tornadoes will be between roughly 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. We're looking at winds around 135 miles per hour or stronger with the threat of the EF2+ possible. As far as hail goes, we have a level 2 out of 5 with around 2-inch golf ball size hail. Wind speeds with the straight-line wind damage potential is a level 3 out of 5 with 60 to 80 mile per hour winds possible.
Something else to note is we have an aerial flood watch for most of Chicagoland because we could have rain rates of around 1 to 3 inches per hour with the thunderstorms today, and the ground is already saturated.
What's next:
After the storms move out tonight, it will be quiet and that will continue into your Friday. Friday's highs will be right around 80 degrees. Saturday will be mostly sunny with highs in the upper 80s.
There is a chance for strong storms Saturday night and then cooler air will return on Sunday. Sunday will be in the low 70s. We start off next week Monday with mid 70s and mostly sunny skies. The chance for rain is back Tuesday. Tuesday and Wednesday will have temperatures hovering in the upper 70s.
The Source: The information in this report came from the National Weather Service and Fox Chicago Meteorologist Kaitlin Cody.