Severe thunderstorms on Friday could bring tornadoes, heavy damage to northern Illinois

Have devices that can give multiple warnings, review your plans and know the best places to take shelter.

These are the warning weather experts are giving northern Illinois residents as a severe thunderstorm system that could produce high winds and tornadoes approaches.

The weather is expected to hit the region starting Friday afternoon and will continue into the night, meteorologist Zachary Yack said on Thursday.

A weather advisory posted early Thursday morning calls for “significant severe” thunderstorm risk on Friday for several northern Illinois counties, including McHenry, Winnebago, Boone, Ogle, Lee, DeKalb, Kane, DuPage, and parts of Cook and Will counties.

“A robust early spring storm system will track across the Midwest and into the Great Lakes region on Friday,” according to the advisory. “An all hazards severe threat exists, including tornadoes.”

In other advisories from Thursday morning, the weather service notes the storms will be “fast-moving … at over 50 mph,” with strong winds up to 45 mph expected.

The storm system was upgraded to a “moderate” risk on Thursday for western Illinois – including Whiteside and Carroll counties – near Iowa and parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi and Kentucky, according to the weather service’s storm prediction center.

In addition to damaging winds and tornadoes, hail could accompany the system, according to the weather service. The storms also could down tree limbs and cause power outages.

Thunderstorms could start as early as late Thursday, but that is described as a limited risk, according to the advisory. The same is true for Monday and Tuesday as well.

The weather service advises people to monitor the weather throughout the day and find either an interior room in a home or a place below ground for shelter as soon as a tornado warning is issued. It says to avoid mobile homes, vehicles and underpasses, and large open rooms, such as gymnasiums.

As April approaches and weather gets warmer, storm systems in the area are changing as well, Yack said. As a result, the area is heading into a “peak” storm season, with potentially dangerous weather likely to continue into the coming weeks as well.

The system is part of an unusual weather pattern that is hitting large parts of the country. Those states include parts of Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, West Virginia, Georgia and Kansas.

On Wednesday, the weather service said nearly 17 million people live in the highest risk zone, and more than 66 million people should be on alert Friday.

“People need to be checking in on the weather,” Yack said. “Make sure you can get multiple warnings, especially when you’re sleeping.”