Twisters 100 miles south of Chicago Wednesday
The same front responsible for Chicago’s temperature downturn Wednesday produced powerful thunderstorms downstate, including a half dozen tornadoes and thundery downpours which flooded fields. Initial reports indicate four twisters touched down around 2:40 p.m. Wednesday afternoon near Monticello, Indiana, 100 miles southeast of Chicago. Two other tornadoes occurred in central Illinois—one in Champaign County and the other south in Douglas County. Spotters monitoring the storms indicated no damage, saying the twisters’ paths remained away from most structures, traveling the area’s open fields.
Dust thrown into the air by the tornadic winds lent the storms a dramatic appearance. Torrential rainfall, including 5.50” in less than 2 hours near Pesotum, Illinois—15 miles south of Champaign—produced pools of standing water 2 feet deep.
-Tom Skilling