Tornadoes spotted in Illinois, Wisconsin during rare winter severe weather threat

 Tornadoes were spotted across central Illinois as well as south of Madison, Wisconsin on Thursday evening.

- It may be February, but Chicago and Milwaukee experienced spring-like weather, prompting severe weather warnings Thursday, hail and even a few tornadoes - Wisconsin experienced unprecedented rainfall so far in February Was.

Storm chaser Corey Gerken spotted a tornado just outside Henry, Illinois, on Thursday afternoon as severe storms moved through northern and central parts of the state.

The rotation was weak but enough of the funnel was over land for the cyclone to be considered a tornado.

Storm chaser Brandon Kopic chased the same storm and captured video of the aftermath after a semi-truck was overturned and a barn was destroyed. The National Weather Service based in the Quad Cities, Iowa, says it is the second February tornado in their area since 1950.

The area is more than 100 miles from Chicago, which was also preparing for the threat of severe storms. The area was under a Level 1 severe weather risk by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center due to the threat of hail, high winds and tornadoes.

There were dozens of reports of hail ranging from a penny to a nickel to a quarter in size across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. The storm surge moved across Lake Michigan, ultimately causing more hail and wind gusts of 40-50 mph in western Michigan.

The Midwest is experiencing "spring break" with temperatures between 10 and 20 degrees above average, setting the stage for spring-like weather. Wednesday brought record heat for Minneapolis; Des Moines, Iowa, and Wausau, Wisconsin.

"We're breaking record high temperatures across the Midwest this afternoon, but that's ahead of the potential for severe weather this evening," Fox Weather meteorologist Ian Oliver said. "And that heat and humidity increase that risk somewhat."

By sunset, the SPC had received about a dozen reports of severe weather, including two tornadoes.

Tornado reported in Evansville, Wisconsin

Severe storms in Wisconsin spawned at least one tornado near Evansville, setting several firsts for the area, including the first February tornado warning in Wisconsin.

"I went out on my back deck, and it was really weird, it was like dark fog," resident Patty Pumphrey told Fox 6 Milwaukee. "And I've never seen tornado sirens go off that often."

Video from Evansville shows a twister that appears to be a rope with lots of lightning.

"I'm still a little bit in shock that it happened, it's exciting," storm chaser Tom Purdy told Fox 6. Has been taken very seriously. Even if it's February, even if there's still snow on the ground, it still happens."

PowerOutage.us reported less than 10,000 power outages across the states of Wisconsin and Illinois, including the Evansville area.

"Power is currently out in Evansville. Evansville Water & Light is aware of this and is working on the issue," the Evansville Police Department said Thursday evening. "There are reports that cell phone towers are also down. We have no timeline for when power will be restored."

The local National Weather Service office is expected to send a storm survey team to the area on Friday to determine how long the twister was on the ground and what its strength was on the Advanced Fujita Scale. If confirmed as a tornado, it would also be the first tornado on record for Wisconsin in February.

In addition to the severe weather, a dramatic change in weather patterns is expected as hot and dry conditions will be replaced by much cooler and wetter weather in the coming days, the Fox Forecast Center said.

"50 degree temperatures will give way to 30 degree temperatures across the upper Midwest this week," Fox Forecast Center reported. "This will be the beginning of a gradual cooling, driven by persistent northwesterly flow from Canada. The cooling will gradually take shape over the course of the next week."