Wild weather has rocked the city of Chicago and surrounding areas over the past two days. Strong storms moved through the area on Sunday and Monday nights that spawned multiple tornadoes, two of which reportedly hit Chicago’s Midway (MDW) and O’Hare (ORD) airports.
The first line of strong storms hit the Chicagoland area on Sunday and an EF0 tornado with winds of 80 mph touched down just west of Midway Airport before traveling east towards Lake Michigan. The tornado was confirmed by the National Weather Service on Monday.
High winds at the airport pushed a parked Southwest aircraft into a jet bridge. No passengers were onboard at the time of the incident. Southwest, the largest carrier at Midway Airport, had additional issues on Monday as the runway at their Houston Hobby hub had to be closed for emergency repairs.
Monday night brought even stronger storms as a massive derecho tore through the area. At one point all of the Chicagoland area was under a tornado warning. Passengers at Chicago O’Hare International Airport were forced to shelter underground while many passengers were stuck on planes on the tarmac.
According to some news reports, tornadoes touched down at both Chicago O’Hare and Chicago Midway Airport on Monday night. We’ll have to wait for the National Weather Service to confirm these which will likely happen sometime on Tuesday though, with over 10 tornadoes reported in the Chicago area, it may take longer.
BREAKING: Tornadoes reported by both of Chicago's airports O'Hare and Midway.
— Rob Elgas (@RobElgasABC7) July 16, 2024
BREAKING: Tornado confirmed on the ground at O'Hare airport in Chicago.
— Rob Elgas (@RobElgasABC7) July 16, 2024
As you can imagine, these severe storms and tornadoes have wreaked havoc on flights. Hundreds of flights were canceled and delayed at both airports with many aircraft stuck on the tarmac at O’Hare airport as the storm blew through. Luckily, based on what I can tell, no passengers onboard those aircraft were injured during the storm. Planes were stuck as the tower had to be evacuated.
Impacts from the storm will likely carry over through Tuesday so check with your airline on the status of your flight if you’re traveling to, from, or through either of the Chicago area airports.
Summary
String storms which spawned tornadoes blew through the Chicago area on Sunday and Monday nights. A confirmed tornado hit Midway Airport on Sunday and reports are circulating that both O’Hare and Midway were hit by tornadoes on Monday.
