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Possible derecho coming to Chicago tonight at rush hour. Very high winds and large hail.

The Storm Prediction Center has placed most of northern Illinois and northern Indiana under a rare "High Risk" outlook for late this afternoon and this evening.
This means a widespread wind damage event is a growing possibility for the Chicago area. In addition to straight-line winds in excess of 75mph, there is the potential for golf ball to baseball sized hail as well as a few strong tornadoes.
A preliminary search of records from the Storm Prediction Center indicates it's been nine years (5/30/2004) since the entire Chicago metro area was under a "High Risk" designation.
Prior to today, the last "High Risk" outlook issued by the Storm Prediction Center for any part of the country was over one year ago, on April 14, 2012.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=9136067

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on June 12, 2013 at 5:13pm

I am dreading it. Please let there be no hail.

Radar doesn't look that bad to me though, so hopefully it will be a false alarm...

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on June 12, 2013 at 5:23pm

I can't tell if it's raining yet, but the green dots on the right are the LEDs reflecting off the window, which is usually visible only at dusk...

Barely any movement to the leaves-- I think that's bad, right?

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on June 12, 2013 at 6:11pm

I have always heard that that stillness is bad.  Weather radar shows lots of very dark red heading this way and the severe thunderstorm warning says hail 2.5 inches and wind 80 mph.  Raining at the lakefront at Belmont.  Glad to be inside!

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on June 12, 2013 at 7:24pm

So far, much ado 'bout nothing.

Permalink Reply by SlowCoachOnTheRoad on June 12, 2013 at 7:31pm

What a non-event that turned out to be.  I hear it is over.  400 flights canceled, White Sox game canceled, all Loop workplaces sending their workers home early today.  I even didn't bike to work today because I saw the heavy storm warning for 1 p.m.   As it turned out, I could have biked today after all - for all the hype it barely rained, though it did look ominous.  I guess one of those days when better safe than sorry

Permalink Reply by Julia 3.5/7.5 mi on June 12, 2013 at 7:51pm

I rode this morning, thinking I'd just toss my bike on the Milwaukee bus if it got crazy before evening rush; left for home around 4:30 and barely caught a few raindrops. It's downright peaceful in Logan Square right now.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on June 12, 2013 at 8:07pm

Peaceful in upside-down Logan Square here...some rolling thunder... barely enough rain at times to justify an umbrella, and not much in the way of winds that I saw. Kind of a pleasant early summer storm--a porch swing would have been a nice place to watch it from...

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on June 12, 2013 at 8:14pm

Seems it went and is going all around the city.  The lightning over the lake is pretty spectacular to see.  Huge Metra delays and all of the other stuff, but at least they did not cancel the hockey game. ;-)  Now let's hope the Hawks get back in the game.

Permalink Reply by Jackie Weiser on June 12, 2013 at 8:21pm

I just didn't want any of my bike buddies to get beaned.  

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on June 12, 2013 at 8:37pm

And we appreciate it!  So someone explain this to me.  About 10 minutes or so ago there was a "made me jump out of my chair" lightning strike and thunder clap and then the rain poured down.  Does the lightning punch a hole in the cloud? :-)

Permalink Reply by SlowCoachOnTheRoad on June 12, 2013 at 9:34pm

Lisa, I just don't want you to stay up all night worrying too much about those clouds full of holes passing over your head that will never coagulate, so let me explain.  When the humid warm air rushes up it produces raindrops.  This rush of fast air, like the static you build when you go down a slide, electrifies the clouds.  It all happens at the same time- the electricity discharging to the ground to reach an electrical balance or lightning, the sound of it or thunder and falling drops or rain.  But the flash of lightning is seen milliseconds later, as it is at the speed of light, the thunder later, as it is traveling to you at the speed of sound (ten counts from lightning means it is 1 mile away), and the rain, being physical, takes the longest to fall through the air to you.  They all happened at the same time, but you experience each at different times, thus producing the illusion that the lightning came first, popped the cloud, made a hole in it, and let the water  pour out onto you!

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 12, 2013 at 10:06pm

We had an intense t-storm (but no hail) around the time I got home. That went on for a while. A couple more have stayed mostly south of Beverly.

The nastiest stuff on the radar was just south of us.  I hope that folks in Blue Island and Riverdale got through it okay.

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