Alert issued for northern Illinois about thunderstorms, winds

DAVENPORT, Iowa — The National Weather Service issued a warning Saturday that a severe storm could affect parts of northern Illinois starting between 7 and 8 p.m.

At 4 p.m. a thunderstorm watch was issued for Boone, McHenry, Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Lake and Winnebago counties.

The station in the Quad Cities warned that scattered showers and thunderstorms are moving east-southeast at a pace of 50 mph from southern Minnesota, Iowa and central Wisconsin.

The storms potentially could have damaging wind gusts in excess of 70 mph, torrential rainfall and produce hail and isolated tornadoes.

The weather station in Romeoville also issued a hazardous weather outlook on the same storm, noting that the following Illinois counties could be affected. They are: Winnebago, Boone, McHenry, Lake, Ogle, Lee, DeKalb, Kane, DuPage, La Salle, Kendall, Grundy, Kankakee, Livingston, Iroquois, Ford, Cook, and Will.

In addition, flash flooding and frequent lightning strikes are being forecast.

The front edge of the storm would advance an arc that would by 8 p.m. approach the area from Galena, Illinois to Madison, Wisconsin. By 9 p.m. the storm would be just north of Sterling-Rock Falls and stretch to Milwaukee.

The storm arrives after much of Iowa and Illinois have been subjected to dangerous heat, with index readings reaching to 105 degrees in some places.