Meteorologists are increasingly concerned about a severe weather outlook forecasted for central Illinois on Wednesday. Tornadoes and severe winds are expected. This spring, Illinois leads the country with 140 tornadoes. An outbreak of tornadoes last week damaged more than 70 homes in Streeter, Illinois. Smaller tornadoes impacted some buildings and hundreds of trees in Urbana, Kickapoo Park and Danville. This post will be updated.
Post updated June 16 at 10:20 a.m.
From IPM meteorologist Andrew Pritchard:
SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK LIKELY WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17: Take some time today to get prepared for tomorrow – we’ve just seen widespread severe weather take many of us off the grid over the last week. Take today to make sure your safe space is ready, and your flashlights, batteries, and portable charging packs are ready to go again.My goal isn’t to alarm anyone, but the severe weather setup over central Illinois tomorrow (Wednesday, June 17) is the real deal. We’re going to see springtime jet stream dynamics interacting with a June air mass, and weather forecast models are beginning to depict an outbreak of severe thunderstorms occurring across central Illinois (into neighboring Indiana) during the afternoon, evening, and early overnight hours.A few tornadoes appear likely across central Illinois, with the potential for a couple longer track, particularly damaging tornadoes. Damaging wind gusts and large hail would also be possible with the strongest storms. For now, this is all hypothetical potential, but the area of greatest potential is located over central Illinois and until we get to the other side of this storm system we’re going to need to be ready to go.I’ll break down timing, impacts, confidence again later today as we get another round of forecast guidance to examine. For now, the period from 2 PM to 12 AM on Wednesday should be circled on your calendar for potential severe weather impacts across the area.
