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Heavy Rain in the Southern Appalachians; Fire Weather and Heat in the West; Monitoring Tropical Storm Erin

Heavy to excessive rainfall over the southern Appalachians may bring areas of flooding today. Gusty winds and low relative humidity will bring critical fire weather conditions to parts of the Great Basin and northern Rockies today and Thursday. Hot to extremely hot temperatures are in place through today across parts of the western U.S. Read More >

Overview

Fast Facts:

  • Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms developed during the afternoon hours on Saturday, May 23, and continue through early evening. 
  • These storms brought a few tornadoes to the region, wind damage, and spotty large hail. 
  • Three tornadoes were confirmed for this event. One in/near Minooka that was on the ground for six miles (EF-0), a brief tornado southwest of Chana (EF-1), and another very brief tornado in the Genoa / Hampshire area (EF-0). It's possible that there were a couple more brief tornadoes that produced little to no damage, but there was no confirmation of these.
  • Considerable downburst wind damage also occurred in Shorewood and Joliet, with over a hundred trees down in total. 
  • Locally very heavy rain fell, with swaths of 2 to 3 inches of rain causing renewed flash flooding, especially across parts of Lake County, Indiana. 
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Recap of Severe and Flooding Reports. 
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