All throughout the morning, there were news stories and video footage of the severe weather that rolled through portions of Northern Illinois including suburbs of Chicago on Tuesday night. Summer is not going out quietly. With steamy hot weather baking the Southern United States, and cold air trying to plunge in from Canada, a battle line has been drawn on the eve of the official start of the fall season. Places such as Wheeling, Hegewisch, Palatine, Mundelein, Elgin, Des Plaines, Lake in the Hills, and Flossmoor were caught in the crossfire.

A microburst was reported to have downed tree limbs, uprooted trees, and knocked garages off their foundations on the far south side of Chicago. Meanwhile, in Wheeling, another severe thunderstorm generated a microburst that tore the roof off of buildings in an industrial park. At the peak of the storm, there were nearly 25,000 customers without power in parts of Northern Illinois. Lightning struck a tree in Mundelein. Wind gusts around the region were between 65 to 72 miles per hour, just below minimal hurricane force. The stormy weather was produced by a frontal line that is draped over much of the northern third of the country. It continues to produce strong to severe thunderstorms on Wednesday with places such as South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, and even as far east as Pennsylvania getting into the act.

Severe Thunderstorm Watches and Warnings cover much of the Keystone State this Wednesday afternoon. Temperatures here in Central Jersey were in the upper 80s with dew point levels reaching the upper 60s. Strong to severe thunderstorms are possible with large hail and damaging winds. More severe weather could occur again on Friday as summer tries to make one last stand against the onset of fall, which begins Wednesday night at 11:09 PM EDT.