April 09--The Chicago area, like much of the Midwest, is in the path of a wave of severe storms that could produce hail and damaging winds, possibly some tornadoes, Wednesday evening through Thursday.
The first storms were expected to hit the southern Plains late Wednesday and move across southern and central Illinois. The highest chance of tornadoes extended from the Kansas-Oklahoma border south of Wichita, Kan., to the St. Louis area -- with storms forming in the afternoon and early evening.
In the Chicago area, there was a slight risk of severe thunderstorms along and south of Interstate 80 on Wednesday evening and overnight, according to the Chicago Weather Center.
The weather will worsen Thursday, with humidity, an approaching cold front and the jet stream all possibly feeding dangerous storms from the Arkansas-Missouri border to southern Wisconsin to central Indiana. Chicago, Indianapolis and St. Louis are all in their path.
"By Thursday, it looks like all those ingredients come together. ... You can really blow up some big storms," said Greg Carbin, the warning coordination meteorologist at the Storm Prediction Center.
"Super cell" thunderstorms were likely to produce large hail, damaging winds and a few tornadoes during the afternoon and evening Thursday when a cold front approaches from the west. The threat of severe storms will end later Thursday evening as the front moves east.
The National Weather Service said the severity of the storms depended on "all of the ingredients" coming together.
"Even if just one ingredient fails to materialize, the threat decreases substantially," the weather service said in an advisory. "Early indications are that many of the ingredients for a significant outbreak of severe thunderstorms could be in place Thursday and later forecasts and outlooks should be closely monitored."
