Midwest / Ohio Valley Outbreak Begins

UPDATE: The government has stopped running the 4-KM WRF model due to the Tropical Storm in the Eastern Pacific (I forgot that they do that during the hurricane season). The other model that has simulated radar (12Z) says that this thing up in Toledo now is going to move southeastward into SW Pennsylvania after dark, sounds reasonable to me looking at the radar. After that, hard to say what will happen but probably storms off and on for eastern OH & western PA through the morning.

Stay tuned to the front page of AccuWeather.com for severe weather videos as the night progresses, watch MapSpace as linked below, and keep an eye on the StormMatrix box below to watch the stats pile up. Here's a 24-Hour Rainfall map that a Commenter had requested (depends on if the model is correct with storm placement & movement!):

Original Post: The major severe weather outbreak over the Midwest and Ohio Valley has officially begun. Thunderstorms are now breaking out across the state of Illinois and a thunderstorm complex that dropped 4-5 inches of rain on the Chicago area (see map below) is now moving eastward on the southern Michigan border.

Here's a storm-total rainfall map of the Chicago area - the black area is 4 to 5 inches and there is one grey dot southeast of Lincolnwood where over 5 inches was estimated by the radar. I'm eagerly awaiting the new 4-KM WRF model, which should be out any minute, to tell us how the storms will evolve overnight and how much rain will fall (something a blog Commenter asked for). When it comes in, I'll post it above.