Hailstones—some baseball-size—bombard the area
One of Chicago’s five warmest late March periods in more than a century ended with powerful wind and hail generating t-storms late Wednesday. The day’s official high temperature of 77° was 25° above normal! Readings that warm typically occur three weeks later around April 19.
Late day t-storms took advantage Wednesday of a lower than average freezing level in the atmosphere, generating more than six-dozen reports of hail 0.75” in diameter or greater across the metro area. Will County alone logged 23 such reports followed by Cook County with 12. Firefighters at Engine 127 near Midway Airport reported hail covering the ground around 6:45 p.m. Hailstones in Lemont reached 2.75” in diameter—the size of baseballs. And Joliet, Romeoville and Woodridge were hit by 1.75” hail. It was the first time since 1992 March t-storms in the city have been hail producers. More than 400 cloud-to-ground lightning strokes flashed across the area in one ten minute period around 6 p.m.