High-speed winds from the west will blow through the Chicago area on Sunday, potentially disrupting travel with gusts as speedy as 65 mph, the weather service said.
The National Weather Service issued a “High Wind Warning” that began overnight and will last until 6 p.m. Sunday in northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana.
The gusts will likely hover between 50 and 60 mph and are predicted to peak between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m., when speeds of up to 65 mph are possible, the weather service said. After 6 p.m., winds will probably abate to 45 and 50 mph until Monday.
As of 5:30 a.m. Sunday, the fastest winds recorded in Chicago were 56 mph at O’Hare International Airport and 52 mph at Midway International Airport, the weather service said.
The weather service said the gales could knock down trees and spur scattered power outages.
A total 8,942 ComEd customers were reporting power outages as of 7:30 a.m., according to the utility company’s outage map. Of that share, over 4,000 of the customers were Cook County residents and 2,128 were in Chicago.
Strong, gusty winds are forecasted to blow through our area! We have increased staffing to respond to any power outages that may occur. Please report outages by tweeting #OUT @ComEd and get status updates by tweeting #STAT. pic.twitter.com/r5OGqTb218
— ComEd (@ComEd) February 23, 2019
In addition, loose objects blowing around and sporadic snow storms will pose “extreme difficulty” for larger vehicles, especially on streets that run north-south, the weather service said.
Residents are warned to steer clear of fallen power lines, be careful on the roads and secure any lightweight objects outside, the weather service said.
Chicago is also scheduled to see intermittent snow showers between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. Sunday, as well as another cold front sweeping the area, the weather service said. Temperatures in the city are predicted to fall to 23 degrees by 5 p.m. and plunge to a low of 7 degrees — minus 11 with windchill — at night.
Monday’s forecast has a high of 18 and a low around 11, the weather service said. But come Tuesday, temperatures will pick up and hover around the 20s.
