High Risk of Severe Weather; Tornado Watch

  A  Tornado Watch has been issued from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Thursday, and includes McHenry County, according to the National Weather Service.

An organized cluster of t-storms is beginning to organize over southern Wisconsin and northwest Illinois and will slowly sag south and southeast over the next several hours. There is an increased risk of severe weather with strong winds and very heavy rain which may lead to flash flooding overnight. This will include many of the north and northwest suburbs.

The timeframe to be concerned is between 10p.m. and 1a.m. Thursday. It looks like the north and northwest suburbs will get hit the hardest, plus t-storms may move over the same areas through early Thursday morning with t-storms possibly lingering until 9 a.m. over parts of the area.

There is also a Flash Flood Watch out for the entire area through 1p.m. Thursday. Several inches of rain is possible which may easily lead to flash flooding.

Ryan’s Advice: Have those weather radios handy! These storms look like they will be widespread and produce a lot of lightning, very heavy rain/flooding and possibly some damaging winds. There will likely be some warnings issued a little later in the evening as storms continue to organize.

Severe Weather Index Scale: (3) High Risk for McHenry County

Ryan’s Severe Weather Index Scale

1.)   Slight Risk (30 percent probability)

2.)   Moderate Risk (50 to 60 percent probability)

3.)   High Risk (70 percent probability)

4.)   Significant Event (80 to 90 percent probability)

5.)   Critical weather situation (95 to 100 percent probability)