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Heat and Fire Weather Concerns in the West

Heat will build over the Intermountain West and the Southwest the next couple of days. Lightning from dry thunderstorms can create new fire starts and combined with gusty winds may cause a fire to rapidly grow in Oregon and northern California. Elevated fire weather conditions are also expected in the Great Basin. Flash flooding will be possible in Arizona and west Texas, especially in burn scars. Read More >

Overview

Fast Facts:

  • Numerous storms moved south through northern Illinois Tuesday evening, producing scattered downbursts of 35+ mph winds, and in isolated locations these reached to 50+ mph causing damage.
  • Downbursts are concentrated areas of rain and rain-cooled air from thunderstorms, and this more dense, cool air hits the grounds and rushes out, at times causing damage.
  • The thunderstorms also produced heavy rain resulting in localized flash flooding, including in parts of the Chicago and Rockford metro areas.   
Downburst
Animation from College of DuPage webcam showing downburst.
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Additional recaps can be found on the NWS Chicago Past Events Page
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