Chicago weather radar: Tornado watch in effect for parts of Illinois, Wisconsin for the next round of potentially severe storms

CHICAGO (WLS) — The Chicago area is bracing for another round of storms on Thursday afternoon that could turn severe, possibly producing a supercell and even a tornado.

Severe Thunderstorm Warning valid for De Kalb, La Salle and Lee counties until 6 p.m

The National Weather Service has issued a Tornado Watch to 8 p.m. for the following counties: Cook, De Kalb, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, and Will in Illinois and Walworth, Racine and Waukesha in Wisconsin.

ABC7 Meteorologist Larry Mowry said the sunshine after the previous round of storms would allow the atmosphere to warm as a cold front moves in from the west.

The latest AccuWeather forecast

The third round of storms, which may be severe, is expected to pass through the Chicago area from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Mowry said he expects separate supercell storms to form west of us before developing into a series of storms. These supercells will pose the greatest tornado risk, but as they develop a more linear structure, the main threat will shift to high winds.

The Hurricane Prediction Center has raised most of Chicago to “slight” risk for severe weather, or level 2 of 5. Northwest Indiana is under “marginal” risk, level 1 of 2.

SPC also said the immediate Chicago area was under a 2% risk of a tornado developing within 25 miles, with large swaths of the northwest, west and southwest suburbs under a 5% risk.

The forecast for Friday is expected to be better, with highs in the mid-60s with an erratic chance of rain. Cold temperatures are ready to welcome the weekend.

Stay tuned with ABC7 Eyewitness News and ABC7Chicago.com for the latest updates.

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