National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Regional Outbreaks of Severe Weather Through Early Next Week; Early Season Heat Wave across the South

Active spring pattern across the center of our nation with several episodes of severe weather and heavy rainfall expected into next week. The potential for very large hail, long track tornadoes, severe wind gusts, frequent cloud to ground lightning strikes and flash flooding are in the outlook. Furthermore, dangerous early season heat wave continues for the Gulf Coast states into early next week. Read More >

Note: This web page was constructed at the end of 2023 to look back at a remarkably active tornado year in northern Illinois and northwest Indiana. While several new tornado records were set in the local area in 2023, many of these records were broken the following year in 2024, which also managed to be an exceptionally active year for tornadoes. Thus, many of the records and rankings listed on this web page (including the record number of tornadoes for a calendar year in the NWS Chicago forecast area) are no longer valid and only apply when using 1950 through 2023 as a period of record.

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Additional recaps can be found on the NWS Chicago Past Events Page
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