Photos show ‘destructive,’ baseball-sized hail as storms slam the Chicago area

As severe storms pummeled the Chicago area on Tuesday evening, they delivered plenty of rain and damaging winds but also a wave of “destructive,” unusually large hail.

Photos and videos shared by NBC Chicago viewers showed hail of various sizes, with some pieces smaller than quarters and others as big as a baseball – or larger.

The National Weather Service’s Chicago office said in a Facebook post at 5:55 p.m. multiple reports of golf ball-sized and tennis ball-sized hail had been received in the Woodridge, Downers Grove, Darien and Westmont areas.

The “destructive” hail moved toward west central Cook County, which includes Clarendon Hills, La Grange, Countryside areas. hail caused damages to vehicles across the area, with one image showing a vehicle damaged in Kankakee County.

A number of the images can be found below:

The NWS warned strong to severe storms, with “all weather hazards at play,” were expected to move into the area, potentially bringing “very large hail” that could damage cars and homes.

Prior to the storm, the agency said the hail threat ranked as a level three of five, with pieces up to two inches in diameter possible.