Hot, humid conditions across the Chicago area could trigger potentially severe thunderstorms beginning Thursday evening with large hail, damaging winds and torrential downpours possible.
Isolated storms could begin Thursday afternoon ahead of a cold front and wave of storms from the west. Some storms could become strong to severe, producing winds of up to 70 mph, hail and downpours.
North and west counties are under a slight risk for severe weather, and south and east counties are under a marginal risk.
Storms likely will weaken and taper off overnight but some could linger into Friday morning.
Temperatures will remain high on Thursday with highs in the low-to-mid 90s and heat index levels between 95 and 100 degrees in many locations.
Friday cools slightly with highs between 85 and 90 but still quite humid.
Slowly but surely, high temperatures will continue on a downward track through the weekend, with some locations seeing the mercury only rising to around 80 degrees on Sunday.
Local
The long-range forecast suggests that another surge of heat could make its way into the region by the middle of next week, with a high pressure system potentially keeping that warm air in place for several days.
