Severe Storm Warning For Chicago Area: High Winds, Hail, Flood Risk

ILLINOIS — After Sunday's humidity and storms, Monday looks to be much of the same. According to the National Weather Service, there is a severe thunderstorm threat once again on Monday, from possibly 3 to 6 p.m. for the northern and western suburbs of Chicago, and 6 to 10 p.m. for the southern areas.

Severe storm warnings are in place for Cook, DuPage and Lake Counties until 1 p.m., and Grundy, Kendall and La Salle counties until 1:15 p.m. That includes Chicago, Cicero, Arlington Heights, Evanston, Palatine, Skokie, Des Plaines, Berwyn, Mount Prospect, Oak Park, Glenview, Elmhurst, Lombard, Buffalo Grove, O'Hare Airport, Wheeling, Park Ridge, Addison, Northbrook and Elk Grove Village.

Tornadoes are possible, as well as hail and 60 mph winds, NWS said.

A severe storm warning is also in place for southeastern Kendall County, Will County, eastern Grundy County and southeastern Cook County, including Joliet, Lockport, New Lenox, Homewood, Homer Glen, Mokena, Romeoville, Plainfield, Oak Forest, Tinley Park and Chicago Heights until 1:45 p.m., with threat of winds up to 60 mph, hail and possible tornado.

A severe thunderstorm watch remains in effect until 4 p.m. Monday for Boone, Bureau, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, La Salle, Lee, Livingston, McHenry and Will counties.

The mugginess also continues Monday, as a high of 88 degrees is expected, with heat index values as high as 96, according to the weather service.

The weather service said the Chicago area is at a risk level 3 of 5 for severe weather. The main threats for Monday's storms are destructive winds, frequent lightning, damaging hail and flash flooding.

The storms are expected to develop with a cold front approaching far northern Illinois between 1 and 3 p.m., according to the weather service. Once storms begin, they could quickly intensify.

A tornado or two is possible, the weather service said.

AccuWeather also forecasted storms for the area, and said storms "can bring flooding downpours, hail and damaging wind gusts." AccuWeather said there is an 87 percent chance of thunderstorms.