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Gird Yourself For Some Gnarly Winds And A Thunderstorm Tonight

By Emma G. Gallegos in News on Nov 11, 2015 6:01PM

Get ready: a big storm from the West is headed our way Wednesday night.

The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory warning that starts at 6 p.m. tonight and ends 6 p.m. Thursday. Thunderstorms and heavy showers are expected to bring some serious winds. They could reach speeds of up to 40 or 50 mph, which might make driving really difficult.

The storm will hit the greater Chicago area, but it is supposed to be especially severe for the Western part of Illinois:

The storm is blowing East from the Rockies, and it's already dumped heavy snows in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska. There's a risk of tornadoes in southern Iowa, northern Missouri and western Illinois, according to the Washington Post. "Sustained, gale-force winds" will hit an area stretching from the Dakotas to Ohio.

If it feels like this storm is coming out of nowhere, the National Weather Service points out that 'tis the season for rapidly-changing weather. In 1940, the temperature dropped 28 degrees in 3 hours, catching much of the Midwest off-guard and claiming 154 lives.