Tuesday proved to be one of July’s warmer, more humid days. Midway Airport’s 86-degree high equaled the month’s warmest reading while O’Hare International Airport’s 84 degree reading fell 2 degrees short.
A line of thunderstorms bubbled to life during the afternoon and evening across the southern suburbs from Streator to Michigan City and La Porte, Ind., emanating from clouds that towered to 50,000 feet. The storms hit a 10-mile-wide swath paralleling Indiana’s Lake Michigan shoreline from Porter into La Porte Counties especially hard for a nearly three-hour period, unleashing repetitive downpours that began around 5:30 p.m. Nearly 5 inches of rain fell at Indiana Dunes State Park. Burdick, Ind.–just east of Chesterton–was drenched by 2.78 inches while 1.30 inches was reported in nearby Portage in just over 75 minutes.
Powerful winds gusting as high as 55 to 60 m.p.h. downed trees and snapped limbs over a swath of the Chicago area Monday night and Tuesday morning extending from west suburban Huntley to Roselle and Waukegan.
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Weather Report is prepared by the WGN-TV Weather Center, where Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN News at 11:30 a.m., 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
Weather updates: Search for forecasts by ZIP code and radar images at chicagotribune.com/weather or wgntv.com
