Tornado Watch Issued for North Central Illinois

A tornado watch has been issued by the National Weather Service for north central Illinois until 1 a.m. The humid air that has built into the area this afternoon is along a strong warm front, and as storms near and cross that front, they will have a brief threat to produce tornadoes.

In addition, any storms Sunday could bring brief wind gusts in excess of 40 mph and temporary but heavy rainfall rates.

Across the Chicago area, storms are popping up sporadically as they system moves to the east.

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Counties in the tornado watch area include: LaSalle, DeKalb and Boone counties, as well as Bureau, Carroll, Cass, Christian, De Witt, Fulton, Hancock, Henderson, Henry, Jo Daviess, Knox, Lee, Livingston, Logan, Macon, Marshall, Mason, McDonough, McLean, Menard, Mercer, Morgan, Ogle, Peoria, Putnam, Rock Island, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, Stark, Stephenson, Tazewell, Warren, Whiteside, Winnebago and Woodford.

MONDAY’S MEMORIAL DAY FORECAST: Memorial Day across the Chicago suburbs will be wet and windy, with gusts up to and possibly exceeding 50 mph. Temperatures will be in the low 80s. After morning rains, the afternoon hours should be dry. But rainstorms are likely to pick up after dark on Monday in much of the Chicago area.