Wild weather taxes local stations – and meteorologists to the limit

Multiple tornadoes, thunderstorms wreak havoc on prime-time programming

If the news cycle couldn’t get any busier – for Chicagoans, it just did.

A weekend after former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt – and with the Republican National Convention taking place to the north of us in Milwaukee, severe storms hit the Chicago area Monday night with unprecedented fury – with a total of ten confirmed tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service.

The storms produced heavy rainfall and frequent lightning, flooding roads and taking down trees all over the Chicago area. Ground stops were placed at O’Hare and Midway as tornadoes were reported near both airports and webcams showed “power flashes”. Tornadoes were also reported in several suburbs and city neighborhoods, including reported touchdowns in Sugar Grove, Crestwood, and near Joliet, Aurora, Warrenville, and Naperville. Much of the area was under a tornado warning, including the city of Chicago where sirens went off.

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Chilling sirens echo through downtown Chicago tonight as numerous tornado warnings engulf the metro.#ILwx pic.twitter.com/pl1XyY3hnz

— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) July 16, 2024

Nearly 300,000 customers are without power.

The severe weather forced Chicago’s local news stations to pre-empt programming for the second consecutive night, including ABC’s The Bachelorette and Republican National Convention coverage (WLS-TV pushed the RNC to its 7.2 over-the-air channel.) One of the weirdest scenes out of weather coverage Monday was an automated alert urging people to take shelter in the 205 North Michigan Avenue building while WFLD meteorologists Emily Wahls and Mark Strehl were on the air. WLS support staff also evacuated into the lower levels of their State Street studios while meteorologists Cheryl Scott and Larry Mowry were on the first-floor studio.

On Sunday night, local stations also pre-empted programming in the last hour of primetime right through the 10 p.m. news shows as a line of severe storms went through the area and tornado warnings were also issued. The weather break-ins wreaked havoc with Fox’s telecast of the Copa America final between Argentina and Colombia as a more than a two-hour delay of the game due to numerous incidents outside Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. led the match to run smack dab into WFLD’s weather coverage, forcing the station to go split screen. WFLD signed off early Monday morning without airing Sports Zone or the rest of its scheduled newscast due to the length of the game and the severe weather coverage.

Saturday evening saw the major broadcast networks and cable news channels break into programming after an assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Bulter, Pa. (outside of Pittsburgh) just after 5 p.m. CT, as a bullet grazed the Republican nominee for President. Networks were forced to dump their regularly scheduled programming for news coverage, with WFLD relocating Fox’s MLB game between Atlanta and San Diego to sister station WPWR for extended network coverage. At the same time, WGN aired an infomercial at 6 p.m. and after an update on the situation in Butler, went back to regular programming.

The multiple tornado outbreak reminds many Chicagoans we’re not immune to extreme summer weather events, such as the 1967 tornadoes hitting Evergreen Park, Oak Lawn, and Hometown, or the 1990 Plainfield tornadoes. Recent events include the November 2013 tornado outbreaks in Washington, Ill., which sent sirens off in Chicago and delayed a Ravens-Bears game at Soldier Field; an August 2020 tornado hitting Rogers Park; and 2021’s storms hitting Woodridge.

Tuesday’s weather promises to be better, with temperatures in the 80s and no severe weather forecasted. With all that’s going on in the last three days, we all could use a breather. Hopefully, we won’t have a riot at tonight’s MLB All-Star Game.