Chicago Weather

‘Dozens of circulations' reported as Chicago-area storms spark ‘multiple tornadoes at the same time'

The National Weather Service called the line a series of "destructive thunderstorms" while the NBC 5 Storm Team called it an "incredibly active night"

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Editor's Note: Our latest story on Chicago's storms and severe weather Monday night can be found here. Our original story continues below.

"Dozens of circulations" were reported as Chicago-area storms sparked "multiple tornadoes at the same time" Monday evening.

The storms sparked from west to east across the area, with "radar indicated" tornadoes reported in several suburbs as the severe weather sparked watches and warnings in every Chicago-area county.

The National Weather Service called the line a series of "destructive thunderstorms" while the NBC 5 Storm Team called it an "incredibly active night."

"It's been years and years since we've seen something like this," NBC 5 Storm Team Meteorologist Kevin Jeanes said.

A "radar confirmed" tornado was reported near Sugar Grove and was moving into the Aurora area as of 9 p.m., according to NWS. Shortly after, another was confirmed near Oswego, moving east into Plainfield and southern Naperville.

After Monday night's severe thunderstorms and multiple tornados, video from DeKalb surfaced showing multiple fires and trees down in the area

Numerous other tornadoes were reported as the storms continued, transitioning to a "rain event" just before 10:30 p.m. for most, according to the NBC 5 Storm Team.

The series of "destructive" storms left behind a trail of damage.

The Chicago Fire Department noted that it was responding to "several" reports of porch collapse issues and downed trees.

An entire block of trees were reported down near 70th and Campbell, the department said.

In Joliet, there were numerous reports of power lines down across the city and several roadways were partially or completely blocked by trees or fallen branches, according to police.

Reports of downed trees flooded in from numerous other suburbs.

Chicago's O'Hare International Airport was under a ground stop as all departures headed for the airport were grounded "due to tornado" until at least 10:30 p.m. Trains on multiple Metra lines were halted "due to high wind warnings."

Hundreds of thousands were without power as of 10 p.m. across the area.

The storms mark the second straight day of severe weather to hit the area, with rare touchdowns reported in Chicago itself Sunday evening.

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