A band of showers and thunderstorms that moved through northeastern Illinois into northwest Indiana early Wednesday afternoon turned violent over north-central Indiana, producing the second-biggest tornado outbreak in the U.S. this year. By early evening the tornado count had reached 35, the most this year in a single day since the southeast U.S. outbreak that produced 52 tornadoes Feb. 23.
Just before 2 p.m. CDT, a tornado touched down south of Lafayette, Ind., and soon after tornadoes were reported moving toward Kokomo, Ind. From that point tornadoes touched down repeatedly as the band of storms marched east-northeast, passing south of Fort Wayne and moving into northwest Ohio.
On Thursday, a cold front will move through the Chicago area from the northwest, accompanied and preceded by a renewed band of showers and thunderstorms, a few of which could become severe mainly south and east of Chicago. Cooler, less humid high pressure will follow into our area Thursday night and Friday.
