Tornado watch issued for Chicago area as cold front is set to bring ...

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Severe and dangerous storms could be coming to the Chicago area Tuesday evening as a cold front moves in.

A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, McHenry, Lake, and Will counties until 8:15 p.m.

A tornado warning has also been issued until 7:45 p.m. for southwest Lake, southeast McHenry, and northwest Cook counties – and a separate tornado warning was issued with the same expiration time for parts of northwest DuPage and northwest Cook counties.

The tornado warnings halted several Metra trains in the western suburbs Tuesday evening. Ground stops were put into place for O'Hare and Midway international airports.

A tornado watch is also in effect until 10 p.m. for all Illinois counties in the CBS 2 viewing area – and Lake, Porter, Jasper, and Newton counties in Indiana.

Tornado warnings have been popping off one by one since the early evening, with several confirmed tornadoes. The first was in LaSalle County and eastern Lee County – just to the west of DeKalb, with a tornado being spotted over Paw Paw, Illinois, in Lee County.

Another tornado was later also reported on the ground about 2 miles north-northeast of Waterman. There was also a report of a confirmed tornado between Little Rock and Big Rock, Illinois.

The storms were also bringing dangerous hail the size of gumballs – and 60 mph winds. Baseball-sized hail is possible. Large, damaging hail was seen many areas as the storm system hit.

The storm system was tracking east at about 40 mph – and was expected to reach Edgewater by 8:09 p.m.

Summertime storms often do not hold together as they move across the area. But this system is expected to hold together, with a driving wintry cold front behind them and all the warm air in front.

A wind advisory is also in place for all of northern Illinois from 9 p.m. Tuesday until 6 a.m. Wednesday. 

A powerful cold front will be clashing with the warm air that has made it feel like June in Chicago. 

The Chicago area made it officially to 74 degrees at O'Hare International Airport – and the high in McHenry was 77. But when the cold front plows through, Chicago will be on the cold side, with highs at the freezing mark.

The cold front dropped the temperature to 6 degrees in Fargo, North Dakota, Tuesday afternoon.

On Wednesday morning, the wind chill will make it feel like 14 in the Loop and at Midway International Airport, 12 in Waukegan, and 1 degree in McHenry, as the Chicago area goes from spring back to January in a matter of hours.

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Mary Kay Kleist

Meteorologist Mary Kay Kleist can be seen on CBS News Chicago and weeknights on CBS2 News at 5 p.m.

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