Thunderstorms with damaging winds caused flooding in the Chicago area, including Lake and Kane counties, on Tuesday evening and brought a tornado to Will County, according to the National Weather Service.
A tornado warning was declared for central Will County until 7:30 p.m. after trained weather spotters confirmed a tornado near Manhattan, about 8 miles northwest of Peotone, according to the National Weather Service.
The tornado’s expected path included Mokena, Monee and Frankfort, according to the weather service.
Late Tuesday afternoon, a funnel cloud was sighted by multiple people near Hinckley in Kane County, although it was not believed to have touched the ground, according to the weather service. Part of western Kane County also was under a flash flood warning until 8:30 p.m., as more than 2 1/2 inches of rain had already fallen in the area by 5:30 p.m. and a storm system was still over the area.
Several cities including Chicago, Aurora, Elgin and, farther west, Dixon, were under a flash flood watch until 1 a.m. Wednesday because the ground was already saturated in those areas from recent rains.
In Lake County, almost 2 inches of rain had fallen in Gurnee in an hour by about 5:30 p.m., causing minor flooding, with standing water on roads including in Gages Lake, according to the weather service.
Evening thunderstorms could be accompanied by winds as strong as 60 mph with hail the size of a quarter, according to the weather service.
But it’s unlikely rain totals will set any records. This month, the Chicago area has gotten 6.84 inches of rainfall as of Tuesday morning, meteorologist Ricky Castro said. The wettest June, in 1892, recorded 10.58 inches.
In May, the area had a record-setting rainfall of 8.21 inches.
Wednesday was expected to start out dry, with temperatures ranging from 65 to 80 degrees; temperatures are expected to climb through the weekend.
On Thursday, temperatures will range from 87 to 72 degrees. On Friday and Saturday, temperatures will reach into the 90s, though it’s expected to feel much hotter, according to the weather service. Friday and Saturday will feel like the temperatures are more than 100 degrees with high humidity and not much relief at night, Castro said.
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