I always find it fascinating how thunderstorms can produce so much rain in one spot while just a few miles away hardly any rain falls. This happened last Friday when several waves of thunderstorms moved across Northern Kane, Northen DuPage, Northern Cook, McHenry and Lake counties. The first batch of storms went through during the wee hours of the morning with the second batch arriving just before noon. The third and final round of storms moved across the area during the early evening hours. Officially at O'Hare we saw an impressive 3.97" of rain making it the third wettest day ever recorded in the month of June. While rainfall amount approached nearly 5 inches across parts of Northern Cook county less than a quarter of an inch fell in places like Hinsdale and Downers Grove just 20 to 25 miles south of the heavy rain corridor.
The strongest storms occurred in the evening with widespread wind damage reported. In Woodstock a tornado actually touched down producing winds as high as 100 mph. This twister was on the ground for 3/4 of a mile and did damage several buildings but did not cause any injuries.
Phil
