Severe Weather Strikes Midwest with Tornadoes and Power Outages

Tornadoes hit Illinois as severe weather swept across the Midwest on Thursday. The National Weather Service declared a rare tornado emergency near Peoria, Illinois, just after 5 p.m. local time. This alert was issued due to a large tornado on the ground. Thankfully, there were no immediate reports of widespread damage in the affected towns of La Rose, Toluca, and Wenona.

The region saw numerous tornado warnings beginning in the early afternoon. Reports of strong winds and hail came from Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Missouri. The severe weather potential stretched from Texas to the East Coast, with the greatest risk near the Great Lakes. Meteorologists at the Storm Prediction Center warned that the forecast for Chicago had intensified.

By early afternoon, over 200,000 homes and businesses were without power, according to Poweroutage.com. These outages resulted from this storm and carried over from previous severe weather the night before. The storms brought tornadoes, powerful winds, heavy rain, and hail but caused no widespread damage reports.

The thunderstorms affecting the Midwest, and stretching from Texas to New England, were fueled by a large mass of warm and moist air.