That damp feeling becomes a cold, damp feeling
The area’s second drenching of the week pauses Friday morning amid 60-degree temperatures. But both the warmth and the freedom from rain will be fleeting. Gusty thunderstorms could flare over sections of the Chicago area Friday morning as a temperature-crashing cold front sweeps the area. Showery weather’s return Friday afternoon transitions to snow showers by Saturday in a weekend likely to be the area’s coldest in three weeks.
The dry slot of the mammoth storm pounding the nation’s mid-section hovers over Chicago as Friday gets under way. This often-windy feature of large-scale storms is behind the break in steady rainfall and occurs directly beneath the strongest winds of the jet stream. It helps lend storms their comma-shaped appearance on satellite images.
FROM BLIZZARD CONDITIONS TO TWISTERS THURSDAY EVENING
The storm, which pounded 27 states overnight, had spawned 16 twisters by nightfall Thursday. One touchdown was reported around 6 p.m. in west central Illinois at Lima—close to Quincy. Blizzard conditions in Minnesota and northern Wisconsin slashed visibilities to less than one-quarter mile.