Two waves of powerful storms driven by a cold front downed trees and knocked out power to 108,000 Commonwealth Edison customers across the northern Chicago area Friday afternoon.
Most of the outages were reported in Elgin, Palatine, Hoffman Estates and Arlington Heights, where dozens of trees were damaged by winds that gusted as high as 80 mph, according to WGN-TV's Chicago Weather Center.
In Arlington Heights, officials asked residents to stay off the roads so they could clear storm debris. At Thomas and South middle schools, students were rushed to their homerooms and the gymnasium just before the 2:45 p.m. dismissal and were not allowed to leave the buildings.
Students at John Hersey High School were also kept inside the school until the storm passed.
The storms triggered warnings in Cook, DuPage, Kane, McHenry and Lake counties for about an hour Friday.
One warning for northern DuPage, northern Cook and central Kane counties included the city of Chicago north of the Eisenhower Expressway. The warning expired at 3:12 p.m.
Another warning, which ended minutes later, covered northwestern Cook County, northwestern Kane County, Lake County, and southeastern McHenry County. The storm packed 60-mph winds, according to the weather service.
The front will cool temperatures over the weekend and into the week.
On Saturday and Sunday, temperatures across the city may drop into the 60s during the night. In the far western and southern suburbs, the lows could slump to the upper 40s.
The highs during the week are expected to be in the middle 70s, but could dip into the 60s or lower by Friday.
Most of the outages were reported in Elgin, Palatine, Hoffman Estates and Arlington Heights, where dozens of trees were damaged by winds that gusted as high as 80 mph, according to WGN-TV's Chicago Weather Center.
In Arlington Heights, officials asked residents to stay off the roads so they could clear storm debris. At Thomas and South middle schools, students were rushed to their homerooms and the gymnasium just before the 2:45 p.m. dismissal and were not allowed to leave the buildings.
Students at John Hersey High School were also kept inside the school until the storm passed.
The storms triggered warnings in Cook, DuPage, Kane, McHenry and Lake counties for about an hour Friday.
One warning for northern DuPage, northern Cook and central Kane counties included the city of Chicago north of the Eisenhower Expressway. The warning expired at 3:12 p.m.
Another warning, which ended minutes later, covered northwestern Cook County, northwestern Kane County, Lake County, and southeastern McHenry County. The storm packed 60-mph winds, according to the weather service.
The front will cool temperatures over the weekend and into the week.
On Saturday and Sunday, temperatures across the city may drop into the 60s during the night. In the far western and southern suburbs, the lows could slump to the upper 40s.
The highs during the week are expected to be in the middle 70s, but could dip into the 60s or lower by Friday.