Wednesday night's thunderstorms brought lightning, heavy rains, and strong winds to northern Illinois. Wind gusts hit 70 mph just south of Rockford, and 60 mph in DeKalb. The storm drenched Elgin with over an inch of rain in 20 minutes. A ComEd spokesperson says the storms resulted in more than 160,000 outages in northern Illinois.
The high winds caused some fallen trees and downed powerlines in Winnebago County.