The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for the Chicagoland area for Tuesday afternoon into the evening due to storms that bring the potential for tornadoes.
The National Weather Service (NWS) first issued a hazardous weather outlook early Tuesday afternoon for Lake, McHenry, Boone, Winnebago, Cook, DuPage, Kane, Will, Ogle, Lee, DeKalb, LaSalle, Kendall, Grundy, Kankakee, Livingston, Iroquois and Ford counties.
The NWS later issued a tornado watch for all of the counties that were under the hazardous weather outlook. The tornado watch will expire at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Scattered to numerous thunderstorms ahead of a cold front will present a threat for severe weather, the outlook said.
The main timing of the threat is between 1-5 p.m. Tuesday.
The primary severe weather hazard appears to be damaging to locally destructive hail, the outlook said.
The NWS said there is also a threat for tornadoes, particularly near and east of Interstate 57 in eastern Illinois across northwest Indiana.
Localized straight-line wind damage may also pose some threat from severe storms, the NWS said.
Downpours in thunderstorms may cause ponding on some roads.
Parts of Lake County and McHenry County, along with Chicago and surrounding suburbs, are rated a two on a scale of 0-5 for the threat of severe weather.
Forecasters said they recommend residents have multiple ways to get weather warnings and take cover if one is issued.