Isolated thunderstorms produced funnel clouds across central Illinois during the late morning of July 25th. A narrow line of thunderstorms developed over southeast DuPage and central Cook Counties during the late morning of July 25th and continued into the early afternoon producing torrential rainfall and widespread flash flooding.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS LOT wrote it up.
Isolated thunderstorms produced funnel clouds across central Illinois during the late morning of July 25th. A narrow line of thunderstorms developed over southeast DuPage and central Cook Counties during the late morning of July 25th and continued into the early afternoon producing torrential rainfall and widespread flash flooding. Scattered thunderstorms moved across portions of northern Illinois during the late evening of July 25th into the early morning of July 26th producing heavy rain and localized flash flooding.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Chicago, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 25, 5:47 AM CST, 2 hours 42 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Chicago/Romeoville, IL 647 AM CDT Fri Jul 25 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Additional rounds of showers and storms into Friday morning with a locally heavy rain, and isolated gusty wind threat. - A period of slow-moving showers and thunderstorms Friday night through Saturday may bring another round of torrential rainfall and the potential for flooding across portions of the area. - Dangerous heat will build back across the area on Monday (possibly as early as Sunday), with periods of thunderstorms over or just north of the area Monday through Wednesday. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 119 AM CDT Fri Jul 25 2025 Through Saturday: Complex warm season pattern is in place early this morning, with continued concerns for locally heavy rainfall and gusty thunderstorms being the main near term concerns. Challenges will center on timing individual shortwaves/boundaries that will serve as focus for thunderstorms. The low level atmosphere, and really the entire atmospheric column, has not been scoured out ahead the afternoon storms, and you can make out an outflow boundary along a line from Peru to Gary. Dewpoints north of the boundary are still holding in the lower 70s, but mid to even upper 70s are in place across central Illinois. THus from an instability perspective, the atmospheric is still fairly primed. Similarly, an assessment of PWATs show an enhanced area of 2"+ PWATs along the boundary. Aloft, water vapor imagery depicts numerous MCVs/compact vort maxes from central IL extending back to the Texas Panhandle. 850-700 mb flow from the SW ahead of the first wave shows some uptick as well. It appears the focus tonight into early Friday will be locally heavy rainfall with some embedded thunderstorms. Most guidance suggests that the environment may be a bit more conducive along and south/east the aforementioned boundary. Higher DCAPE values will be in place ahead of this first wave, and with a shallow stable layer, we do still need to monitor for gusty winds south of Chicago into NW Indiana which should peak before early-mid morning. Outflow is surging ahead of the storms, thus at least for the time being gusts should hold under 40 mph. The challenge will be that there is not that much of gap between each upstream wave, but it looks like coverage may ease a bit through the morning into early afternoon. The next wave(s) will be moving into northeast IL/northwest IN during the afternoon. With extensive cloud cover, instability will be a bit more muted. Deep layer shear will also be lower. Therefore coverage of showers and storms this afternoon will likely be focused on any inland surging lake boundary, and would be scattered in nature. Locally heavy rainfall again would be the main hazard with tall/skinny CAPE profiles and very little wind in the steering layer. Another nocturnal uptick in low level southwest winds will shift the moist axis back toward more of the area overnight Friday night into early Saturday. The shower and storm chances never really end Friday evening, however better chances will come in this latter time frame as a more organized trough axis aloft will come overhead in the conjunction with the low level jet response and commensurate uptick in 2" + PWATs areawide (versus further south on Friday). This will be another period to watch for heavy rainfall. And with the approach of the trough/some enhanced shear will again bring some concern for damaging winds. Much depends on the arrival time of the wave. KMD Saturday Night through Thursday: Saturday night the low level flow turns more westerly and it looks like the more organized shortwaves will pass east of the area. There will still be subtle waves in westerly flow moving in, but rising heights aloft should limit storm coverage on Sunday. Concern will then shift to a return to heat and humidity. Dewpoints will again be on the rise on Sunday and a portion of the thermal ridge across the plains will look to shift back overhead early next week, especially into Monday as an expansive high will setup smack dab in the middle of the country right in the heart of the climatologically favored time of year. Dewpoints also look to be oppressively high, upper 70s to near 80, which would place heat indices close to 110. Beyond that, we will see if the ridge holds into Tuesday, it certainly may, which would continue the heat and humidity at least for some areas, and away from the lakeshore. It appears that a longwave trough across Canada will look to squash the ridge axis south, opening the door first to heavy rainfall producing storms. Severe weather would also be on the table with an upper jet nearby, southward surging cold front, and west-northwest flow in place. A much cooler and drier airmass toward the latter half of the week. KMD && .AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SATURDAY/... Issued at 646 AM CDT Fri Jul 25 2025 Forecast concerns for the terminals... - 20-30% chance for scattered showers this afternoon mainly south of I-80 and along the lake breeze. - Waves of showers and thunderstorms late tonight into Saturday morning. - Period of MVFR ceilings, possibly IFR, tonight through Saturday morning. Several disturbances continue to traverse across eastern KS, MO, IL, and IN this morning which is supporting the development of showers and thunderstorms in the region. The leading disturbance has exited northern IL and northwest IN and no longer poses a concern for the terminals, however, the second disturbance is moving across northern MO and will move into north-central IL this afternoon. Given that this disturbance is forecast to be weakening as it arrives and the modest instability forecast to develop this afternoon, it appears the coverage of showers and thunderstorms will be very hit and miss and mainly confined to areas south of I-80. That said, a lake breeze is expected to move through the Chicago area terminals this afternoon which may kick off some scattered showers and perhaps an isolated storm between 23z and 04z this evening. With the shower/storm coverage remaining uncertain, have opted to maintain the PROB30s in the TAFs for showers. A better coverage of showers and thunderstorms is expected to develop with the disturbance currently moving out of eastern KS which is forecast to arrive in northern IL and northwest IN after midnight. While confidence on showers/storms is fairly high tonight, there is some uncertainty as to where the greatest coverage will be and the exact timing. Therefore, have decided to introduce PROB30s in the TAFs to attempt to highlight the most likely arrival times at each terminal. Regardless, storms tonight will once again have the capability to produce heavy rainfall which will result in reduced visibility and perhaps some instances of flooding. Additionally, the strongest storms may also contain gusty winds in excess of 30 kts. Outside of the rain, VFR conditions are expected to prevail through this afternoon. Though, some MVFR clouds may drift overhead at times this morning until diurnal mixing takes full effect. Winds will start off north-northwest this morning but will become easterly behind the aforementioned lake breeze this afternoon with speeds increasing into the 8-10 kt range. Directions will become more southeast this evening before turning southwesterly Saturday morning. As the third disturbance arrives tonight, ceilings are expected to lower into the MVFR range with a 30% chance for some IFR ceilings to mix in as well. These lower ceilings are expected to persist through Saturday morning before improving. Yack && .LOT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IL...None. IN...None. LM...None. && Visit us at weather.gov/chicago
Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Chicago/Romeoville IL
321 AM CDT Fri Jul 25 2025
ILZ003>006-008-010>013-019>021-023-032-033-039-103>108-INZ001-002-
010-011-019-260830-
Winnebago-Boone-McHenry-Lake IL-Ogle-Lee-De Kalb-Kane-DuPage-
La Salle-Kendall-Grundy-Kankakee-Livingston-Iroquois-Ford-
Northern Cook-Central Cook-Southern Cook-Northern Will-
Southern Will-Eastern Will-Lake IN-Porter-Newton-Jasper-Benton-
321 AM CDT Fri Jul 25 2025 /421 AM EDT Fri Jul 25 2025/
This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of north central
Illinois...northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana.
.DAY ONE...Today and Tonight.
Weather hazards expected...
Limited Thunderstorm Risk...with an associated:
Level 1 of 5 Damaging Wind Risk...up to 60 mph.
Elevated Flooding Risk.
DISCUSSION...
Thunderstorms southeast of Interstate 57 will shift east of the
area not long after daybreak.
Periodic thunderstorms this afternoon and again later tonight will bring
the chance for torrential rainfall and localized flooding,
particularly late tonight.
.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday.
Saturday...
Limited Flooding Risk.
Elevated Thunderstorm Risk...with an associated:
Level 1 of 5 Severe Thunderstorm Risk.
Sunday...
Elevated Excessive Heat Risk.
Monday...
Elevated Excessive Heat Risk.
Tuesday...
Limited Thunderstorm Risk.
Elevated Excessive Heat Risk.
Wednesday...
Limited Thunderstorm Risk.
DISCUSSION...
Lingering thunderstorms Saturday will bring the
chance for torrential rainfall and localized flooding,
particularly Saturday morning.
Heat and humidity may once again build to dangerous levels at
times Sunday through Tuesday.
.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
Spotters may be needed late today or tonight.
GENERAL STORM MOTION OF THE DAY:
Moving toward the northeast at 20 to 25 mph.
LMZ740>745-260830-
Winthrop Harbor to Wilmette Harbor IL-
Wilmette Harbor to Northerly Island IL-
Northerly Island to Calumet Harbor IL-
Calumet Harbor IL to Gary IN-Gary to Burns Harbor IN-
Burns Harbor to Michigan City IN-
321 AM CDT Fri Jul 25 2025
This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of the Illinois
nearshore waters of Lake Michigan and the Indiana nearshore
waters of Lake Michigan.
.DAY ONE...Today and Tonight.
Weather hazards expected...
Limited Thunderstorm Risk...with an associated:
Level 1 of 5 Thunderstorm Wind Gust Risk...up to 40 knots.
.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday.
Saturday...
Elevated Thunderstorm Risk...with an associated:
Level 1 of 5 Severe Thunderstorm Risk.
Wednesday...
Limited Thunderstorm Risk.
KMD
Visit us at www.weather.gov/chicagoThe Chicago radar (KLOT), 56 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:27 UTC.
5 flood, 3 flash flood, 2 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
Photos showed a well developed funnel cloud extending two thirds of the way to the ground near Serena.
Numerous reports of a funnel cloud west of Dayton were relayed by law enforcement.
Video showed neighborhood roads flooded in the vicinity of 95th Street and Plainfield-Naperville Road.
Photos showed at least 6 inches of flood water on roadways in the vicinity of 87th Street and South Washington.
A photo showed a few inches of standing water in the parking lot of a shopping center near 75th Street and Naper Boulevard.
Flash flooding was widespread across a narrow corridor in central Cook County roughly along and south of Interstate 55 with the heaviest rain falling near Midway Airport. An estimated 30,000 basements were flooded in Chicago, including in Chicago Lawn, West Lawn, Elsdon, Clearing, Garfield Ridge and Gage Park. Approximately 100 structures were damaged or destroyed from the flooding. Numerous roads and viaducts were flooded and closed. A person was reported trapped in a car that was stuck in a flooded viaduct near Gage Park, who needed to be rescued. Two to three feet of flood waters were reported on 47th Street between South Halsted Street and South Morgan Street. In Washington Park, an underpass was flooded on South Street with a vehicle stuck in the flood waters.
In Bridgeview, waist high flood waters were reported on neighborhood streets from 79th Street to 83rd Street. Flood waters 6 to 18 inches deep were reported on streets from 71th Street to 84th Street just east of Harlem Avenue. There were over a dozen water rescues in Bridgeview. In Justice, multiple streets were flooded with several inches of water. At least one car was stuck in the flood waters. Multiple streets were flooded with several inches of flood water in Summit. An additional estimated 3,500 basements were flooded across Bedford Park, Bridgeview, Burbank and Summit.
Storm total rainfall amounts which fell in a 2 to 3 hour period included 5.98 inches in Garfield Ridge; 5.68 inches one mile west northwest of Bridgeview; 5.50 inches in Burr Ridge; 5.15 inches one mile southeast of Midway Airport; 4.90 inches in Bedford Park; 4.64 inches one mile west of Bedford Park; 3.38 inches one mile south southwest of Indian Head Park and 3.14 inches at Midway Airport.
In Darien, cars became stuck in several inches of flood water on Cass Avenue eventually leading to the road's closure. Knee deep water was reported in parking lots. Several side streets were flooded. At least five structures were flooded, including multiple rooms which were flooded in the Darien Municipal Center. A nearby personal weather station measured 4.72 inches of rain between 10:00 CST and 12:00 CST. Near Willowbrook, parking lots and roads were flooded with several inches of water near the intersection of Route 83 and Plainfield Road. Basement flooding was also reported in an adjacent neighborhood. Near Burr Ridge, a photo showed flood waters up to the hood of parked vehicles in the vicinity of South Frontage Road and Meadowbrook Drive. Video showed 6 to 12 inches of flood waters in the southbound lanes of Interstate 55 near Route 83. A nearby storm total CoCoRaHS report was 3.92 inches of rain.
After torrential rain and widespread flash flooding during the late morning and early afternoon of July 25th, flooding continued across a narrow corridor in central Cook County through the late afternoon.
Running water was reported over Edson Road north of Monroe Center.
Route 64 was flooded in multiple locations between Skare Road and Interstate 39 and ditches along the road were full of water. Video showed a few inches of water on Route 251 near Route 64. Multiple houses and basements were flooded in Hillcrest and on the north side of Rochelle. Fields at Rochelle Township High School were flooded. The Kyte River overflowed its banks. Approximately 35 acres of corn and soybeans were damaged or destroyed by flood waters. A private weather station near Lindenwood measured 3.20 inches of rain between 20:08 CST and 21:08 CST.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, July 2025
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1280009, 1280010, 1280031, 1280039, 1280073, 1280005, 1279984, 1281602, 1280012, 1280011.