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Yesterday evening we started to get severe storm warnings coming up over the programming on TV. This is quite normal, we get bad storms here (though usually they’re only really bad far away from the city). But when the weather service starts to break into programming entirely – you know it’s serious.

They started to say that there was rotation in the clouds (something else we’re used to hearing happen out to the south, west and north of us) and that this may lead to a Tornado… But something was different yesterday: This storm – unlike every other since I have been here – was on course to hit Chicago itself. Normally the effect of the Lake on weather systems helps to avoid this kind of situation for the city, but as the clouds got darker, the warnings started to happen more often and eventually, the Tornado warning sirens started to sound in the city – we knew it was coming!

Sheila’s parents had left for home just a little while before the sirens sounded, so obviously Sheila’s main concern was for them. They called us part way through the storm to tell us to look out for the windows blowing in as their car was being blown around and they knew it was strong. They eventually got home and are fine – as are we. It was just crazy…

The worst storms I’ve ever experienced in the UK were less severe then the smallest storm I have ever seen in the Mid-West. The storms out here are just unbelievable and with the temperatures approaching 100° – it’s more likely to get cloud rotation and if the funnel works it’s way down to the ground – a tornado.

The tornado apparently touched down in the suburb Sheila lived in when she met me and has caused a bit of damage. There are 238,000 people currently without power in the Chicago area… But you know what? Like every major storm it’ll get fixed and it’ll get fixed quickly.

The storm started off with what seemed a thunderstorm and then really suddenly the wind kicked up and our chairs on the deck all slid to the left side. One of them looked like it was going to fall down the stairs, so looking at the trees and seeing the wind didn’t seem too bad, I opened the door and pulled it inside (I didn’t have time to secure it or the other chairs, as I felt the air pressure and gusts starting to get stronger). We then came inside, shut off everything electrical that we thought could cause an issue and then I setup my camera to try to get some footage of the storm. Click the image below to go to YouTube and watch the footage…

Click the image above to view the video.