A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for several Chicago area counties on Saturday evening as wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour and penny-sized hail threatened the area.
At 6:49 p.m., a severe thunderstorm warning took effect for north central Will County, southeastern DuPage County and southeastern Cook County. The warning was set to expire at 7:45 p.m.
Earlier, the NWS issued a severe thunderstorm warning for southeastern Kendall County and northwestern Will County until 7:15 p.m. At around 6:21 p.m., a severe thunderstorm was located 7 miles southeast of Yorkville, moving east at 30 miles per hour.
People in the aforementioned areas were urged to prepare for potential damage to roofs, siding and trees.
In a post on X, the social media platform previously known at Twitter, the NWS said storms had merged into a line north of LaSalle County, with cells developing to the south.
“These storms will move ENE producing heavy downpours and cloud to ground lightning,” the post read. “Isolated stronger storms have the potential for 60 mph wind gusts and some hail.”