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Severe Thunderstorms in the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest; Critical Fire Weather in the West; Dangerous Heat in the Central and Eastern U.S.

Severe thunderstorms are likely today across the northern Plains and into the upper Mississippi Valley. Gusty winds and dry conditions will result in widespread critical fire weather through Saturday across parts of the Four Corners region and the Great Basin. A significant and dangerous heat wave will expand from the Central U.S. into the Eastern U.S this weekend through much of next week. Read More >

3/19/2025 Severe Weather Event. Thank you to our storm spotters, broadcast media, and followers for your reports! Strong to severe thunderstorms rolled across the region during the afternoon and early evening of March 19th producing swaths of straight-line wind damage. NWS ground surveys confirmed that several brief tornadoes occurred as a line of storms accelerated across Will, southern Cook, and Lake (IN) counties. Three separate tornadoes touched down in Gary, IN. Wet, wind-whipped snow fell overnight into Saturday morning, mainly north of I-80, with accumulations of 1 to 4 inches. Confirmed Tornadoes (8):  1. Joliet/Preston Heights EF-0 2. Frankfort EF-0 3. Steger EF-1 4. Lynwood EF-0 5. Highland EF-0 6. Gary #1 EF-0 7. Gary #2 EF-1 8. Gary #3 EF-0 To view an interactive map with these survey findings, visit apps.dat.noaa.gov/StormDamage/Damageviewer/

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Additional event recaps can be found on the NWS Chicago Past Events Page
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