Wild Weather

Tornado, hail warnings in effect during high-level storm in Illinois

Not the best time for "on the ground" reporting in Chicago and the surrounding areas...except for proximity to the action. Yesterday's storms had a significant impact across the Windy City and the top section of its home state, affecting areas up into Wisconsin and out towards Iowa with threats of "strong tornadoes."

Crews are currently responding to thousands of storm-related service requests across Chicago, including more than 4,000 tree emergencies, hundreds of traffic signal outages, and widespread reports of downed wires and flooding.

Unfortunately, the threat of severe weather is not over. The National Weather Service has issued an alert that there is a threat of strong tornadoes across Chicago and surrounding suburbs between 4-9pm today, Thursday, June 11th.

"As a reminder, outdoor warning sirens are intended for people who are outdoors and should not be relied upon as the only source of emergency information," the NWS added. The benefit is that EA editors will remain close to the eye of the storm and the center of the action as things continue to develop.