Tuesday night across the Chicago area saw a severe weather outbreak full of strong thunderstorms, heavy lightning, golf-ball sized hail in some parts and reports of as many as five tornadoes.
According to the National Weather Service, teams are expected to survey damage areas and finalize reports in the coming days.
"Severe t-storms moved across northern Illinois and extreme Northwest Indiana producing large hail, likely several tornadoes, as well as some wind damage," a tweet from the NWS said.
Reports show some of the greatest damage from the storm was seen in Geneva and Barrington among other suburbs.
Where did tornadoes touch down in Chicago?
According to trained tornado spotters, between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., reports of at least four of tornado touchdowns emerged from the outbreak in the Chicago area.
Local
A fifth tornado was reported in far western Illinois, according to the University of Michigan and the National Weather Service.
According to the NWS, one of the tornadoes touched down near Sugar Grove in southern Kane County. That tornado is believed to have caused damage at Waubonsee Community College, with damage to trees, power poles and fences reported in the area.
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Sugar Grove was also buffeted by straight-line winds, with one gust measured at 63 miles per hour by a private weather station.
Another tornado touchdown was reported in Big Rock, located in Kane County near Hinckley. According to reports, that tornado may have caused damage at a construction site near a Jewel-Osco in suburban Batavia.
There were also reports of a tornado touchdown near Inverness and Schaumburg in Cook County, with a reported tornado causing wind damage near Palatine. A private weather station in that area measured a gust of 82 miles per hour, according to a trained weather spotter.
Finally, another touchdown was reported near Waterman in DeKalb County, officials said.
Golf-ball sized hail, heavy lightning
Large hail was also reported throughout the area Tuesday. NBC 5 Meteorologist Kevin Jeanes reported hail two-inches in diameter in Woodridge, and 1.75 inches in Romeoville and Darien.
Large hail was also reported in Bolingbrook and Oak Forest, Jeanes said.
According to weather officials, golf ball-size hail was also reported near Sublette, and ping pong ball-sized hail was recorded near Plainfield.
Tuesday night's storms also saw heavy lightning.
"A ton of lightning," Jeanes said. "Flash, after flash, after flash. Fortunately, no injuries we reported."
ComEd working to repair some outages
According to ComEd's outage map, more than 900 people were currently without power as of 5:30 a.m. Wednesday. The majority of those outages were Barrington, Hoffman Estates, Deer Park and Inverness.
Tuesday, ComEd said it was positioning additional crews and equipment to respond to outages.
According to a press release, the company is taking âproactive stepsâ to address any challenges the weather brings, with wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour and large hail potentially taxing the grid on Tuesday.
