I had been watching their approach with growing alarm--the thunderstorms steadily sweeping down from Wisconsin. The line was long, running east to west across much of the metro Chicago area, and had much orange, red and even spots of deep purple on the color weather radar. And, of course, the line was due to scythe through downtown right about the time I was slated to leave work. Lovely.
Upon leaving the job, I ran into
JB on the street and stood talking with him for a minute before heading on my way. The storms had not arrived yet, but the clouds above had a strangely scalloped look, like they were climbing over each other to get out of the way of the storm front to come.
By the time my Brown Line train had passed the Sedgwick stop, the sky had turned a dark grayish green. Lightning was bouncing back and forth between clouds, and all of the street lights had come on--about two hours early.
When the train reached Belmont, the skies opened up and trees started whipping back and forth madly. The dude sitting closest to the door had to move further into the train--the wind was blowing so hard that the rain was actually blowing around the partition and hitting him in the face anyway. (This same dud, when it came time to alight at his stop, stood before the doors, took a deep breath and, when they opened, he sprinted down the platform through the driving rain and was soaked to the skin by the time he reached shelter again.
Amazingly, the rain had let up to a drizzle by the time I made my stop. Lightning still danced in the clouds above, but little more came down. Branches littered most sidewalks, and many trash cans had blown over. The only serious damage I saw was from a huge tree limb that had snapped off (there were no singe marks on the trunk, so I assume it was felled by wind rather than lightning) and fallen across Richmond Street.
It didn't crush any cars, but it completely blocked the street; drivers headed north had to stop, back up and turn back onto Cullom to find another way out.
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