June 22, 2016 Illinois Severe Weather Outbreak

A few days before the Illinois severe weather outbreak, the NOAA Storm Prediction Center issued a moderate risk for severe weather for the Chicago area and several miles west, as well as southern Michigan, northern Indiana, and northwestern Ohio. An enhanced, slight, and marginal risk was also in place, but these areas didn't see nearly as much activity as those in the moderate section.

The system may have seemed a bit of a fluke to some people at first, as before the severe weather went through, some smaller thunderstorms went through the Chicago area, leaving some thinking "Was that it?"  What in fact happened was the cap was expected to break much earlier than expected. When the first round of thunderstorm went through, that was supposed to be the severe weather. There was a break of a few hours until the cap broke and several storm cells finally began to develop that shortly after became severe warned. These cells then met into one system. There were several Severe Thunderstorm Warnings issued, as well as many Tornado Warnings. There was even a report on two tornadoes have dropped down from one cell.


This is an image of the radar shortly after the storms began to really pack a punch. Several Tornado Warnings as you can see. Although Chicago did not see a tornado with this system, that is most definitely a good thing, given the enormous population of the city (Chicago is 3rd largest city in America). Now please understand that I'm not trying to imply that a tornado dropping elsewhere is a good thing. Just that if there has to be a tornado, the best place for one is in a less populated area as the less damage that will occur. None of the cells were showing signs of weakness. They were producing tornadoes from birth to several hours later in Indiana.

There was a few tornadoes confirmed on the ground through this weather event.

1. Between Dixon and southeast of Earlville, IL - 2 in Earlville, on ground at same time.
2. Pontiac, IL
3. Amboy, IL

Those are the tornadoes that have so far been confirmed on the ground. Remember that even if a Tornado Warning is issued, that doesn't mean that there's a tornado on the ground. It means that this particular storm cell storm has strong enough rotation where it could drop a tornado at any second. Once anymore tornadoes are confirmed, I will update the list.