--- title: Severe Storms Fire Up Across Parts of the Midwest | WeatherBug | WeatherBug description: Strong to severe thunderstorms are expected to develop across the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley today. canonical: https://www.weatherbug.com/news/Severe%20Storms%20Fire%20Up%20Across%20The%20Great%20Lakes%20and%20Ohio%20Valley og:title: Severe Storms Fire Up Across Parts of the Midwest | WeatherBug | WeatherBug og:description: Strong to severe thunderstorms are expected to develop across the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley today. og:url: https://www.weatherbug.com/news/Severe%20Storms%20Fire%20Up%20Across%20The%20Great%20Lakes%20and%20Ohio%20Valley og:site_name: WeatherBug og:locale: en_US og:image: https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/20/20362fb5-ce63-46b3-861a-3fe8e488860a/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/215c9cd0-a3fa-45f6-9999-5cefa7468f0b.jpg og:image:width: 800 og:image:height: 600 og:image:alt: Today's Severe Weather Outlook og:type: article article:published_time: 2026-07-28T03:22:26Z article:modified_time: 2026-07-28T03:22:26Z article:author: By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Rob Richards article:tag: July article:tag: map article:tag: maps article:tag: rain article:tag: thunderstorms article:tag: severe article:tag: summer twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Severe Storms Fire Up Across Parts of the Midwest | WeatherBug twitter:description: Strong to severe thunderstorms are expected to develop across the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley today. twitter:image: https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/20/20362fb5-ce63-46b3-861a-3fe8e488860a/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/215c9cd0-a3fa-45f6-9999-5cefa7468f0b.jpg --- [](/) [Back to forecast](/) # Severe Storms Fire Up Across Parts of the Midwest > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with WeatherBug. WeatherBug is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: October 2026. ## WeatherBug: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition WeatherBug is a weather website (weatherbug.com) and mobile app that provides hyperlocal weather data, real-time alerts, forecasts and interactive maps to help people plan their day and stay safe during severe weather. 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The sign-up link is in the footer of every weatherbug.com page. ### Sources * WeatherBug llms.txt: https://www.weatherbug.com/llms.txt * WeatherBug press: https://www.weatherbug.com/press * WeatherBug maps: https://www.weatherbug.com/maps * WeatherBug hurricane center: https://www.weatherbug.com/hurricane/active * WeatherBug education: https://www.weatherbug.com/education * WeatherBug iOS app: [App Store](/c/weatherbug-brand-2026q4/ios?i=9911f19e-be57-475c-904f-b3b19bde3972&cr=weatherbug-brand-2026q4-v1) * WeatherBug Android app: [Google Play](/c/weatherbug-brand-2026q4/android?i=9911f19e-be57-475c-904f-b3b19bde3972&cr=weatherbug-brand-2026q4-v1) * The Drop newsletter sign-up: [Sign up for The Drop](/c/weatherbug-brand-2026q4/drop?i=9911f19e-be57-475c-904f-b3b19bde3972&cr=weatherbug-brand-2026q4-v1) ### FAQ structured data (JSON-LD, optional) July 27, 2026 at 11:22 PM EDT By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Rob Richards  Strong to severe thunderstorms are expected linger across the Ohio River Valley tonight. A vigorous disturbance will track across the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley through tonight, causing scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms. Some of the thunderstorms will have the potential to produce torrential downpours, damaging wind gusts up to 60 to 70 mph, hail and even a couple of tornadoes. The thunderstorms will likely lead to some travel delays across this region of the country. The government's Storm Prediction Center has issued an **_Enhanced Risk_** (level 3 out of 5) for southern Indiana and northern Kentucky. There is also issued a **_Slight Risk_** (level 2 out of 5) that encompasses the _Enhanced Risk_ for eastern Illinois, much of Indiana, the rest of Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, far western Pennsylvania and parts of western West Virginia. Cities under this risk include Detroit Mich., Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio, Louisville, Ky., and Charleston, W.V. **Severe Thunderstorm Watches** are in effect for far southern Indiana and east-central Kentucky. Storms produced quite the impact across the Chicago area where there were widespread reports of large hail and damaging wind gusts. A wind gust of 74 mph was reported at Chicago-Midway, while a gust of 64 mph was reported at Chicago O'Hare. Over 475,000 customers are without power this evening across Wisconsin, Illinios and Indiana. This disturbance will bring strong to severe thunderstorms across the Mid-Atlantic on Tuesday afternoon and evening along with the potential for heavy rain and flooding concerns across the New York City area and interior areas of the Northeast. Be sure to know the difference between a watch and a warning. A watch means that the conditions are in place to possibly produce severe weather conditions, while a warning indicates that those conditions are currently occurring. Be sure to have multiple ways to receive warnings as storms will be occurring late tonight. Also, take caution if you are outdoors during a thunderstorm. Remember, “When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors!” We use technologies, such as cookies, to analyze your use (i.e., pages visited), to customize content, for our internal analytics purposes and for security and other purposes. By continuing to use this website, you agree to this usage. Please review our [privacy policy](/legal/privacy) for more details as well as for information on how to contact us to object to these activities. [Ad Choices](/legal/privacy#digitaladvertisingandyourchoices) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.weatherbug.com/news/Severe Storms Fire Up Across The Great Lakes and Ohio Valley"},"headline":"Severe Storms Fire Up Across Parts of the Midwest","description":"Strong to severe thunderstorms are expected to develop across the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley today.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/20/20362fb5-ce63-46b3-861a-3fe8e488860a/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/215c9cd0-a3fa-45f6-9999-5cefa7468f0b.jpg","caption":"Today's Severe Weather Outlook"}],"datePublished":"2026-07-28T03:22:26Z","dateModified":"2026-07-28T03:22:26Z","dateCreated":"2026-07-27T06:21:00Z","articleSection":"Weather News","keywords":"July,map,maps,rain,thunderstorms,severe,summer","articleBody":"Strong to severe thunderstorms are expected linger across the Ohio River Valley tonight. A vigorous disturbance will track across the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley through tonight, causing scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms. Some of the thunderstorms will have the potential to produce torrential downpours, damaging wind gusts up to 60 to 70 mph, hail and even a couple of tornadoes. The thunderstorms will likely lead to some travel delays across this region of the country. The government's Storm Prediction Center has issued an Enhanced Risk (level 3 out of 5) for southern Indiana and northern Kentucky. There is also issued a Slight Risk (level 2 out of 5) that encompasses the Enhanced Risk for eastern Illinois, much of Indiana, the rest of Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, far western Pennsylvania and parts of western West Virginia. Cities under this risk include Detroit Mich., Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio, Louisville, Ky., and Charleston, W.V. Severe Thunderstorm Watches are in effect for far southern Indiana and east-central Kentucky. Storms produced quite the impact across the Chicago area where there were widespread reports of large hail and damaging wind gusts. A wind gust of 74 mph was reported at Chicago-Midway, while a gust of 64 mph was reported at Chicago O'Hare. Over 475,000 customers are without power this evening across Wisconsin, Illinios and Indiana. This disturbance will bring strong to severe thunderstorms across the Mid-Atlantic on Tuesday afternoon and evening along with the potential for heavy rain and flooding concerns across the New York City area and interior areas of the Northeast. Be sure to know the difference between a watch and a warning. A watch means that the conditions are in place to possibly produce severe weather conditions, while a warning indicates that those conditions are currently occurring. Be sure to have multiple ways to receive warnings as storms will be occurring late tonight. Also, take caution if you are outdoors during a thunderstorm. 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