Angry clouds passed by this evening. It had rained on and off all day, rain we certainly needed, and early in the evening we got treated to a heavy downpour and the sound of sirens for a few minutes. As for as official warnings, this:

The National Weather Service in Chicago has issued a

* Tornado Warning for…

Northeastern DuPage County in northeastern Illinois…

Northwestern Cook County in northeastern Illinois…

* Until 715 PM CDT.

* At 651 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms capable of producing a tornado

were located along a line extending from Schaumburg to Glendale

Heights, moving east at 30 mph.

And a NWS warning in Spanish buzzed on my phone. By 7:15, the sun was out again, shining on a drenched landscape. We’d gotten a lot of rain, but not a bit of wind. Guess that blew parallel to us.

Then: “The National Weather Service said a tornado touched down near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Wednesday following warnings of severe weather for the city. A confirmed tornado was on the ground around 7 p.m., according to the National Weather Service in Chicago,” ABC News reported.

“ ‘This tornado has been touching the ground intermittently so far and is moving east. There are additional circulations along the line south of O’Hare. Seek shelter if in the warned area,’ ” the ABC article said.

“Many tornadoes have struck in the Chicago metropolitan area, and several have hit within the city limits of Chicago, according to the weather service…” ABC concluded (a spot of background or historical context: I know this kind of conclusion well, having written many).

“The deadliest formed in Palos Hills in Cook County on April 21, 1967. The twister traveled 16 miles (26 kilometers) through Oak Lawn and the south side of Chicago, killing 33 people, injuring 500 and causing more than $50 million in damage.”

Another report (NBC News) mentioned a large tornado this evening near Summit, Illinois, which is a lot further away than O’Hare.

So the threat of high winds seems to have passed, at least at my spot on the Earth. But there’s always another day.

A few more thunderstorms are forecast for the near future, but mostly it’s cerulean days ahead.

Or will that be azure days?