* Illinois was hit hard by storms this week. Block Club Chicago…

A tornado hit the Near West Side and Downtown Monday, one of as many as a dozen twisters that wrecked trees and sent rooftop deck furniture flying, according to the National Weather Service.

Monday night’s storms saw multiple tornadoes reported throughout the area — including at both airports — before they swept into Northwest Indiana. Crews for the weather service are out inspecting 29 “paths of potential damage” due to tornadoes Tuesday, the agency said.

So far, the weather service has confirmed five tornadoes in the region, with one forming over the Near West side before traveling to “far western portions of the Loop,” the agency tweeted Tuesday. […]

Most of Monday’s tornados will likely be EF-0 or EF-1, the weaker classifications, but [Bill Snyder, a longtime WGN producer for retired meteorologist Tom Skilling] said the weather event was still “nothing to sneeze at”: Its winds were about as damaging as a category 1 hurricane.

* I spoke with ComEd Communications Manager Lauren Huffman this morning. As of 8:30 am Comed has restored 366,000 customers’ power following the Monday night storms. About 63,000 customers remain without power…

“We said earlier this week that about 80% of the outages, and originally there were 430,000 of them, would be restored today. We’re on track to meet that and then there’ll be a full restoration Friday,” ComEd Communications Manager Lauren Huffman said.

* WMBD…

Ameren Illinois is still working on restoring power to thousands of customers across the state after a severe storm moved through the area on Monday.

According to the Ameren Outage Map, about 12,110 residents in Illinois remain without power Wednesday morning. That includes about 555 in Knox County, 2,024 in Marshall County, 1,313 in Peoria County, 404 in Putnam County and 3,421 in Tazewell County.

On Tuesday, Ameren projected that impacted customers would have power restored by 10 p.m. Wednesday.

* ABC 7 Chicago…

Parts of I-55 remain shut down in south suburban Will County as crews work to clear power lines downed during Monday night’s severe weather.

In an update Wednesday morning, Illinois State Police and ComEd said the road could reopen between U.S. 6 and River Road in Channahon. early Thursday morning after clearing debris and vehicles. […]

The confirmed Channahon tornado also toppled two transmission towers. Numerous high-tension, high-power ComEd electricity lines were ripped down, now stretching across the roads, including I-55. […]

And an Exxonmobil Refinery is now without power, forced to flare some of its product as a precaution.

* Some photos of the damage…

Damaging winds ripped through most of northern IL on Monday night, toppling transmission structures and causing downed wires across I-55 between US Route 6 and River Road. Dozens of our 3,000 restoration crews are working night and day to restore this critical stretch of highway. pic.twitter.com/93tXAzx7ew

— ComEd (@ComEd) July 17, 2024

* More…

* Tribune | As O’Hare sheltered in place during storm, passengers rode the winds out aboard planes: ‘It felt very vulnerable’: The O’Hare air traffic control tower evacuated during the storm, as did the FAA’s Terminal Radar Approach Control facility, known as TRACON, in Elgin. That led to a ground stop at O’Hare, causing all planes to stop moving on the tarmac at the major hub airport, a spokesman for United Airlines, O’Hare’s largest carrier, said in a statement. Once the FAA resumed staffing the facilities, airlines were able to move their planes again, United said. But until then, passengers like Jack were stuck aboard planes that were buffeted by the storm’s strong winds. For about 10 minutes, she watched as the wings blew up and down, and the “pretty strong” wind caused items outside the window to blow around.

* AP | A dam fails after rain, wind, tornadoes pound the Midwest. The Chicago area is cleaning up: Water overtopped a dam near Nashville, Illinois, and first responders fanned out to ensure everyone escaped safely. There were no reports of injuries in the community of 3,000, southeast of St. Louis, but a woman was rescued after reporting that she was in water up to her waist in her home, said Alex Haglund, a spokesperson for the Washington County Emergency Management Agency.

* Shaw Local | Kane County communities assessing damage following Monday night storms: The Campton Township Highway District is hosting a special post-storm pickup the week of July 29, Commissioner Sam Gallucci said Tuesday, following a second night of storms with heavy damage. “We had trees down two nights in a row,” Gallucci said. “Somewhere around 35 to 40 trees were down, across roads, and we’ve been busy with that, crews working on clearing trees from roads. And private property had a lot of trees down.”

* Tribune | Warmer winters and a hotter Gulf of Mexico could be contributing to more tornadoes in Illinois, experts say: Studies have also found climate change may be affecting tornado patterns. Victor Gensini, a professor at Northern Illinois University, said climate change can affect the conditions necessary to create tornadoes. Tornadoes need instability –– warm moist air near the ground with cooler temperatures higher up –– and wind shear –– a change in wind speed or direction –– to form. Instability is more potent in the warm seasons, and shear is usually stronger in the winter.