Possible Tornado Captured On Video In Southwest Suburbs

COOK COUNTY — An apparent tornado was captured on video Wednesday by a person traveling through the southwest suburbs on Interstate 294.

“Tornado down just east of MM 21 ¼ on I-294 currently,” wrote Twitter user Nick.

The text accompanied a video posted shortly after 6 p.m. of a tornado-like circular cloud formation. The footage was recorded from inside a vehicle on the interstate in the area of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. It was not clear from the video if the tornado touched down.

The National Weather Service tweeted at 6:22 p.m. that a confirmed damaging tornado was moving northeast through central Cook County and urged residents to seek shelter.

Tornado warnings were issued for Wednesday in southern Cook and DuPage counties until 7 p.m. and in Kane and McHenry counties until 6:45 p.m., according to the service. Another was issued until 7:45 p.m. for Cook, with a confirmed tornado touching down near O'Hare, the service said.

Earlier, a tornado watch was issued for the Chicago area as the risk of tornadoes increased with severe weather expected Wednesday evening, according to the service.

The watch is in effect until 10 p.m. for Boone, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, La Salle, Lee, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, Will and Winnebago counties.