Residents of Harrisburg in southern Illinois are sifting through the rubble left by the tornado that tore through in the early morning hours Wednesday, killing at least six and injuring at least 100 people. Saline County Sheriff Keith Brown says 15 to 20 percent of residents in this 9,000-person town have been "very impacted" by the EF4 tornado. more ›

A powerful storm tore through the Midwest early Wednesday morning, injuring dozens and killing at least nine people in Kansas, Missouri and Illinois, six in the small town of Harrisburg, Ill. Earlier reports showed 13 people had died, 10 in Harrisburg. Later three more died in Tennessee. more ›

A year of weird weather continues as watery funnel clouds pop up all along Lake Michigan's western shore today. Yeah, that's right, tornadoes in the Lake. Don't believe us? Check the video. more ›

On January 9, 2008, a tornado struck northern Illinois, leaving a trail of damage from Poplar Grove (Boone County) all the way to Harvard (McHenry County). The timing of the tornado was just right as to run across some tracks right when a train was passing by. Thanks to a camera mounted on the train, we see what happens when a train battles a tornado: Mother Nature wins. more ›

The second round of storms for today has just moved through (the above pics were taken this morning looking north towards Navy Pier) and another round is right behind it. This got us wondering about tornadoes downtown. Last month, our pal Amy Freeze warned us of the possibility and we dug back into our archives for this old Ask Chicagoist post. And, just FYI, the northeast Illinois area is under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 3 p.m. while northwest Indiana is under a Tornado Watch until 7 p.m. (EDT). (Thanks, Lauren!) more ›

Chicago Weather Godfather Tom Skilling confirmed that Monday evening's intense storms spawned three tornadoes that produced damage across the Chicago metro area. According to Skilling, Griffith, Indiana was hit by an Enhanced Fujita scale-2 tornado (winds 111-135 m.p.h.) while both Bloomingdale and Bolingbrook were hit by EF1 tornadoes. In addition to the twisters, nearly 2.5 inches of rain fell at O'Hare, already making this the wettest meteorological summer in fifteen years. more ›

Over 230,000 ComEd customers are still without power following last night's powerful storms that swept through the area, downing trees and power lines. The Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation had reports of 1,438 damaged trees, 158 malfunctioning traffic signals, 69 damaged street light poles, 112 downed wires, and 212 city blocks without working street lights. The first line of storms pushed through the city shortly after 8 p.m. and were followed by a second, slightly weaker round shortly after 11 p.m. Tornadoes were reported in Schiller Park and in Elmhurst but there were no reports within the Chicago city limits. more ›

Today’s forecast calls for more thunderstorms. Hopefully, though, not as severe as last evening’s storm, which brought multiple tornadoes to Cook, Will and Lake Counties in Illinois, parts of Wisconson and Northwest Indiana. This morning there are reports of six people injured by the storm system that many are saying caught them by surprise. Joe Rodawold of Wilmington told the S-T: more ›

The Field Museum has been on a roll lately with their temporary exhibits. First it was Mythical Creatures, which blew us away with its artist interpretations of our favorite monsters and legends. And Friday the Field will open Nature Unleashed: Inside Natural Disasters. In the wake of the Myanmar Cyclone and the China earthquake, this exhibit definitely has our attention. more ›

Did you get an e-mail from the CTA a little while ago? Some customers did with a severe weather warning. Dear CTA Customer, This email is to alert you that there is currently severe weather, including heavy rain and high winds, forecasted to reach Chicago during the afternoon and evening rush-hour period today, October 18. It is possible that this severe weather could impact CTA bus and train service. Please take this into account... more ›

A ridiculously severe storm may be heading our way. A low pressure system is moving over the Plains like it owns the place, and with the "air [being] drawn aloft" strengthening southerly winds, we're looking at one hell of a storm system in our area on Thursday. Severe weather of the regular kind (high winds, heavy rains) could be coupled with severe weather of the not-so-regular kind (tornadoes, armageddon-like hail). What makes this extra-special? Autumn... more ›

While the Tribune calls this a "shocking storm," we heard it was going to be hot and rainy all week. However, our friends at the Weather Channel have just reported that over at the Chicago Historical Society (1601 N. Clark), the windows were blown out from the wind and there are some injuries. We send a good thought to everyone there. They also report that there were wind speeds of 78 m.p.h. recorded at Wrigley... more ›

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,... more ›

We have several areas of faux expertise. Ones we've gained from many years of watching TV shows on the subjects, reading novels on the subjects, reading news stories on the subjects and just being generally interested in the subjects. These subjects are law, medicine and weather. Needless to say, we've spent many hours with the Weather Channel on in the background. We've even had a favorite Weather Channel meteorologist (Dave Schwartz, anyone?) and we have... more ›

If you don't already feel like you have been violated by the wind today, just wait, there is more. This is a "winter-intensity, large-scale storm in a hot, humid, energy-rich summer environment" (Skilling's words not ours, and we found him to be pretty accurate). Overnight we could see winds in the area of 90 mph, which according to the Fujita scale that Bill Paxton taught us about, that is the same as an F1 tornado.... more ›

"devon devon 4558" via abmarfia. more ›

Despite the city’s reputation for cold, harsh winters, December is often the proverbial calm before the winter storms, with milder temps preceding the brutal cold and drifts of snow in the early part of the year. But guess what? You’ll also have to worry about tornados. more ›

Remember back when you were a kid, and your school had safety drills out the wazoo? Fire, tornado, nuclear blasts (for the baby boomer Chicagoist readers - we know you're out there) ... oh, the fun that was had. The safer of you might also remember being told to make up an emergency plan with your parents in case of, well, emergency. Chicagoist vaguely recollects lessons of home blueprints, exit routes, even rope ladders for multi-story buildings. Then a really annoying song would get in our head, or we'd see something shiny, and then we tended to forget all about fire safety. more ›

Can the Windy City Get THAT Windy? more ›

Yesterday evening, around 6:45, we noticed the sky was showing quite a bit of movement, slowly becoming a little darker and a little scarier by the second. The rain slowly started, and we heard the cries of the sirens. Passersby must have noticed our befuddlement as they alerted us that this was a tornado siren. We raced for shelter, quite awkwardly we should add, passing a lot of people that didn't seem to care that they were on the verge of being sucked up and thrown hundreds of feet across the city. Soaked, we sat at the computer and got a little more acquainted with the Public Alert Warning System, aka PAWS. It is really called that. more ›

You know what is more fun than standing in the hot sun for three hours to ride a rollercoaster or water slide that takes a minute or less to get through? Pretty much everything. We realize that not everyone shares our hatred for theme parks like Six Flags Great America and the Dells, and that’s all well and good. But what if we told you their rides were also death traps? more ›

Yesterday, Columbia University announced recipients of the 89th annual Pulitzer Prize. The Tribune's Julia Keller won in feature writing for a three-part series on a devastating tornado and its aftermath in Utica. The series ran in December 2004. more ›

Ooh no! Sam's Wines, our favorite purveyor of deviljuice, has been hit with a "lengthy list of citations, including allegations of extorting kickbacks from alcohol distributors and operating an illegal warehouse." Oh, man, we bet they need a drink. If not them, us. Bottoms up! more ›

It's no secret that we love Ask Tom Why. Because sometimes it's easier to write a letter to a team of meteorologists and wait for an answer to be printed in the newspaper than just to google it. Oooh, information supahighway. more ›

McWhat? Yes, McHenry County! It's that county just northwest of Cook County, home to film director John Hughes and Woodstock, Illinois, the film location of Groundhog Day. But really, what we'd like to point out is the inordinate amount of bad things that have been happening to the good people of McHenry County. more ›

Chicagoist nervously waited out yesterday afternoon and evening for the promised tumultuous storms in the forecast - Should we walk to the supermarket? Should we start up the grill? - but they never came. Central Illinois and Wisconsin, on the other hand, were not so lucky. The National Weather Service reported tornadoes, high winds and softball-sized hail throughout the area. SOFTBALL-SIZED?!?! eeep! A Parsons Company manufacturing plant in Roanoke, 20 miles east of Peoria, was levelled by one of two tornadoes that touched down. Luckily all employees got out and avoided injury. more ›

Last week Chicagoist commented on the abundance of May showers that were predicted. Little did we know that we were in for a week or more of torrential lightening, thunder, hail and tornado-producing storms. On TV, all of the local stations have had a weather bug in the corner for days warning us of the danger of floods. The abundance of rain has caused many Illinois rivers to overflow. There has already been some flooding... more ›