Attention everyone living in or near Chicago.

Question

Are you all alright? What was the worst you saw? There were reports of high winds, hail, and at least one tornado in the area. This was a very nasty bow echo that came through the region. Lightning struck a tree right next to my house and I'm very glad nothing was lit on fire.

Answer 1

Even worse news....

No future tornadoes tonight in Chicago.....but I saw on the radar that there is a very nasty backbuilding thunderstorm that is hammering northern Cook County right now.

That meant more lightning around Wrigley field. The first round of thunderstorms set off tornado sirens in that ballpark because of rain, wind, and lightning. When the game started back 2 1/2 hours later, I thought the rain and storms had passed...but it was only short lived.....more lightning appeared near Wrigley field.....The umpires tried to get in the game with the thunder and lightning after 12 major lightning flashes and resultant thunder. Then a big positive cloud to ground stroke hit near the field about 100 feet away from the stadium.  That resultant biggest thunderclap caused the umpires to call the game in the 8th inning between the Cubs and the Astros.

40 positive lightning strokes at 10:10 p.m. busted up to 3999 positive strokes, mainly cloud to ground strokes, at 11:18 p.m. around the area of Wrigley Field. I was watching the game in southern Cook County and I could hear the loud thunder on TV. The biggest blast of thunder and lightning really scared the players.

A severe thunderstorm warning was issued in the area around northern Cook county until 12:15 a.m.

The causes of the storm is, I guess, still extreme instability. Looks like still very strong lift from the right rear quadrant of the low level jet....and the main line of storms that hammered Chicago around 7:30 p.m. created a new outflow boundary. That outflow boundary that formed caused a focusing mechanism for further convection...that is, thunderstorm-related phenomena. Very high dew points to about 70 degrees and no convective inhibition, as well as a trailing cold front and solar insolation, triggered still high steep lapse rates and lifted indices as low as -6 to -7. Convective available potential energies were about 4000 joules/kilogram around 7pm, and still, about 2000 joules per kilogram for this new thunderstorm around 11pm. That is why this storm right now around north Cook County is very nasty even if it is not tornadic....

That is why this errant thunderstorm over north Cook County is very noisy....it is a very prolific lightning producer as well as a heavy rain producer.

Rainfall rates from that thunderstorm at times reached 2 to 3 inches per hour.

After 2 hours, this storm will be all over...it will pass to the east. and I hope no more storms in Cook County hit overnight.........

Answer 2

I am in Pittsburgh, PA.  I have been watch the radar and such from noaa.gov.  You were/are in a pds watch.  That means that it is likely that there will be an outbreak of f2+ tornadoes.  You are correct.  This was a massive bow echo.  I imagine there was a lot of damage.  There were wind reports of 80 mph.(stronger than in the tropical storm that is about to hit the gulf coast!)  Right now I see three areas of concernr.  Right now they are in South Bend, Plymouth, and Warsaw.Indianada)  

Answer 3

Oh man that was a fun storm.  I went out spotting with a few friends (i live in the south suburbs) we stopped at a Mc Donald's to take cover.  So i payed $2.95 for the wi fi for my laptop and was using that for the weather.  We experienced 50-60 mph winds for a good 2 minutes.  Then the rain came, and the lightning was the worst I ever have seen.  They lost power then and there went the internet access.  My weather station  recorded a 52 mph gust.  I also snapped a few good lightning shots with my camera.  That was a good storm.  

Answer 4

The best lightning show I've ever seen - and I was a weatherman in the Air Force for 4 years.