At 1:30PM CDT the 30 to 40 mile-wide band of showers and thunderstorms was moving southeast about 40 mph out of Chicago into northwest Indiana. The band of thunderstorms remains on the leading edge of a cold front pushing through the area and actually extended all the way from central Lower Michigan through the southern portion of Chicago and the northwest tip of Indiana to Peoria to the Mississippi River just north of Quincy. Radar indicated strongest storms were in Lower Michigan and out over the southern portion of Lake Michigan.
As the cold front moves east, clouds will be slow to clear behind the front - probably taking two to three hours after the frontal passage before breaks and thinning of the cloud layer will be visible. Winds will slowly shift to the west-northwest.
Rainfall reports have indicated from two-tenths of an inch to nearly half an inch of rain with these showers and thunderstorms. Strongest wind gusts were noted in Wisconsin with the highest report 55 mph in Racine. Gusts to 44 mph were measured at Milwaukee and 45 mph at Kenosha - all well before midnight. In the Chicago area strongest winds were reported at Midway 39 mph, Wheeling 35 mph, O'Hare 32 mph, and Aurora 31 mph.
Some rainfall reports as of 1AM CDT:
Location Rainfall (inch)
O'Hare .20
Midway .22
Aurora .33
West Chicago .22
DeKalb .43
Rochelle .42
Waukegan .34
Wheeling .21
Joliet .19
Rockford .22
Kenosha .20
