Tornado and severe thunderstorm alerts are spawned by a severe weather outbreak.

Following a day with beautiful skies and temperatures that were almost record highs, the Chicago area had a very busy evening as severe storms prompted tornado and thunderstorm warnings throughout the region.

According to the National Weather Service, a severe thunderstorm warning with wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour was in effect in LaPorte County until three in the morning on Saturday.

Storms on a line from Wanatah to North Judson, traveling northeast at 60 miles per hour, have the potential to destroy trees, siding, and roofs.

Radar showed multiple regions of possible rotation within storm clouds in the area, prompting the issuance of tornado warnings in the western suburbs of Chicago late Friday night and in northwest Indiana on Saturday.

Although there were some indications of possible funnel clouds in Illinois' DeKalb County, there were no reports of touchdowns with the storms at the time.

The National Weather Service said no touchdowns were immediately reported, but storms indicated abrupt strengthening over Indiana's Lake County early Saturday morning before moving out over Lake Michigan.

Straight-line winds were a major hazard to citizens across the upper Midwest, with many counties reporting high wind gusts above 60 miles per hour even in regions without tornado warnings.

Tens of thousands of people in the area had power outages as a result of strong winds, with ComEd authorities stating that Winnebago and Kane counties were particularly severely affected.

However, the region is still experiencing severe weather even after the storms have passed. The whole region is under a high wind warning that will last until noon on Saturday. The warning calls for continuous winds of 25 to 35 miles per hour, with isolated gusts of up to 55 miles per hour likely.

Additionally, a wind advisory with potential gusts of up to 50 miles per hour will be in force for the Chicago area until 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Power lines and tree limbs may be brought down by such gusts, and additional outages may occur across the area.