Severe weather threat: damaging winds, brief tornado possible

The Wednesday morning update from the Storm Prediction Center introduced areas along and south of U.S. 6 in a "marginal risk" for severe thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening.

It may seem as though it came out of nowhere, but there is an area of low pressure and an associated frontal boundary over northern Illinois and Indiana that will provide sufficient lift for shower and storm development by 2-3 p.m. Wednesday. The low will also provide some localized "spin" in the atmosphere.

Those components, combined with a fair amount of instability ("storm energy") will allow any storms that develop to possibly become severe. The technical discussion from the Storm Prediction Center for northern Indiana can be found below:

The threat is deemed "marginal" -- or low -- according to the SPC. However, similar set-ups in the past have yielded a few severe thunderstorms. Any storms that do become strong to severe will be capable of strong to locally damaging wind gusts, small hail and funnel clouds/brief tornadoes.

If you see a funnel cloud, tornado or any sort of wind damage, it's important to report it to both police and the National Weather Service if you can do so safely. 

It's also important to remember that while most of us will likely not see severe weather, it is possible just about everywhere south of the Toll Road into the evening.