A large swath of the Midwest to the Northeast faced severe weather risks on Monday as dangerous thunderstorms, including multiple reported tornadoes, swept through the region. According to the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Chicago, a “complex of destructive storms” moved from eastern Iowa into northern Illinois, prompting multiple tornado reports. The storms even forced NWS staff in Chicago to seek shelter temporarily.

Tornadoes and Power Outages Strike the Midwest

One tornado was confirmed near Sugar Grove, a village about 46 miles west of Chicago, shortly before 10 p.m. ET. While Cook County, including Chicago, was declared “tornado warning free” later in the night, damaging winds continued to pose a threat as the storms moved into northwest Indiana.  AccuWeather predicted that the line of storms would “reorganize and trend severe” as they moved east into Monday night.

Northern Indiana faced a tornado warning, with the NWS warning of dangerous flying debris and significant damage to mobile homes, roofs, windows, and vehicles. Meteorologist Tyler Roys noted that the storms would coincide with the evening commute in Milwaukee and Chicago, with the highest risk of severe thunderstorms overnight in Michigan and Indiana, including Detroit and Indianapolis. By early Tuesday, more than 545,000 customers were without power across Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, according to poweroutage.us.

Heat Wave Intensifies Across the Nation

As severe storms battered parts of the country, a relentless heat wave continued to grip the nation. More than 151 million people were under heat alerts on Monday, according to heat.gov. This prolonged heat wave, now in its third week, has already set numerous records and is expected to challenge more as the week progresses. The Weather Prediction Center warned of hot temperatures for much of the eastern half of the U.S., with major to extreme heat risks possible. The extreme weather conditions have led to tragic outcomes in various parts of the country.

Tragic Heat-Related Deaths in Utah

In Utah, three suspected heat-related deaths were reported in national and state parks. On Monday, the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that a man and his daughter died after running out of water during a hike in Canyonlands National Park. The hikers, identified as Albino Herrera Espinoza, 52, and his daughter Beatriz Herrera, 23, from Green Bay, Wisconsin, had sent emergency texts before succumbing to the extreme heat, which exceeded 100 degrees.

In a separate incident on Saturday, first responders in southwest Utah’s Snow Canyon State Park attended to two individuals suffering from heat exhaustion. While on the scene, a passerby alerted them to a third individual who was found unconscious and later pronounced dead. The deceased was identified as a 30-year-old woman, and her death is under investigation. These incidents add to the dozens of heat-related deaths reported by state officials and local media this month, with the toll expected to rise as summer progresses.