Thunderstorms and unseasonably high temps give way to possible high winds and cold for Monday
As a fast-moving line of severe thunderstorms moved east and out of the Chicago area, the National Weather Service warned Sunday of an arriving cold front and prepared to issue an advisory for wind speeds that could approach 50 mph overnight and into Monday.
“It’s going to be very windy here,” Mark Ratzer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said of a “deep low pressure system” that moved across Illinois on Sunday, leaving behind unconfirmed reports of tornadoes and stories of wind damage in towns south and southeast of Chicago.
On Sunday, weather in and around the city, marked by rain and unusual heat, collided with an incoming front, creating powerful storms. Those storms moved eastward at about 55 mph, Ratzer said, and in some areas the NWS received reports of “a few brief tornadoes.”
THE The NWS received reports of high winds and damage Sunday afternoon in the upstate towns of Pontiac and Gibson City. Another report of damage was received in Papineau as the line of storms moved east. Communities south of the Kankakee River and east of I-57, and as far south as Champaign, also faced severe weather risks Sunday, Ratzer said.
Still, the NWS could not confirm that the tornadoes touched down.
“We’ve had a few reports where people have seen funnels or tornadoes, and we’ve also had reports of wind damage,” Ratzer said. “We cannot confirm at this time that the wind damage is actually caused by tornadoes.”
As the threat of severe weather dissipated, temperatures dropped Sunday evening in and around the Chicago area. They hovered in the mid-50s at O’Hare and Midway airports for most of the day, but cold air started moving in “very quickly,” Ratzer said.
With cold comes wind and an expected wind warning. Gusts could reach 45 to 50 mph, and the NWS also warns of the possibility of light snow, with an accumulation of less than an inch, starting Sunday evening and continuing through Monday morning.
