NWS confirms 41 tornadoes in Chicago area nights of July 14-15
CHICAGO (CBS) — The National Weather Service has confirmed 41 tornadoes from the powerful and dangerous storms that hit the area on the night of both Sunday, July 14, and Monday, July 15.
This single-day figure of 32 tornadoes for July 15 beat a record of 22 tornadoes on June 30, 2014. Meanwhile, a total of nine were confirmed from the first round of storms on July 14.
The National Weather Service has completed its survey of the damage from the derecho system that caused the powerful storms, and determined at least 50 tornados hit Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin. A derecho is a widespread and long-lived wind storm associated with rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms.
One of the tornadoes on July 15, an EF-1, hit the Near West Side of Chicago and far western portions of the Loop. A tornado ranking at least EF-2 also hit near Channahon, a rarity for the Chicago area, and another EF-1 hit the Bristol and Oswego areas in Kendall County.
The Channahon tornado made it east-northeast all the way to south suburban Matteson—a track of 28.9 miles.
An EF-0 tornado, or greater, also caused damage in Justice and Bridgeview, and an EF-1 tornado struck in Crown Point, Indiana. Under the Enhanced Fujita Scale, an EF-0 involves 3-second gusts of 65 to 85 mph, while an EF-1 has 3-second gusts of 86 to 110 mph, and an EF-2 has 3-second gusts of 111 to 135 mph.
Six more tornadoes that spun up from July 15 were confirmed this past Tuesday night—including an EF-0 from Crest Hill to Lockport, an EF-1 from Yorkville to Naperville, an EF-0 in Byron in Ogle County, an EF-0 in Davis Junction, an EF-0 from Sugar Grove to North Aurora, and an EF-1 in Chicago from Chicago Lawn to West Englewood.
A 12th tornado during the storms that happened that night was confirmed this past Wednesday. This tornado was an EF-1 with 110mph winds and a 16.3-mile path from Minooka to Joliet. It was on the ground from 9:07 p.m. to 9:23 p.m., and was 250 yards wide.
Seven more tornadoes from the July 15 storm were confirmed Wednesday evening—including an EF-1 from Sugar Grove to Aurora, an EF-0 from Crestwood to Blue Island, an EF-0 in Chicago's West Town community, an EF-0 from Shelby to Wheatfield Township in Indiana, an EF-0 in Peotone, and an EF-0 in Manteno.
Three more tornadoes were confirmed this past Thursday, including an EF-0 from Glen Ellyn to Lombard, another EF-0 in Villa Park, and an EF-1 in the Kankakee County village of Grant Park—not to be confused with the lakefront park in downtown Chicago.
Two more tornadoes from July 14—an EF-0 in Bridgeview and an EF-0 in Oak Forest—were confirmed on Friday. Three more still were confirmed Monday, July 22—an EF-unknown in Maple Park, an EF-0 at O'Hare International Airport that was caught on a live camera, and an EF-0 in Country Club Hills.
The unknown EF rating for the Maple Park tornado was assigned because it never left fields—and thus, there was no way to estimate damage or wind speed ratings, according to the NWS.
Four more tornadoes that touched down Monday, July 15, were confirmed this past Saturday and Sunday:
- An EF-0 tornado with peak winds of 80mph touched down in southern Winnebago County just after 8 p.m.
- An EF-0 tornado, also with peak winds of 80 mph and a path length of 2.2 miles, touched down in Morgan Center in Ogle County just after 8 p.m.
- An EF-0 tornado with estimated peak winds of 85 mph and a path length of 3.7 miles, touched down in the Minonk and Flanagan area in Livingston County.
- An EF-0 tornado with peak winds of 85 mph and a path length of 2.9 miles touched down just after 9:30 p.m. in Mokena in Will County.
The amount of damage caused by some of these tornadoes was not released. But in Oswego, heavy winds uprooted large trees, which toppled over onto homes and cars. One Oswego resident said she heard a crash that was "like a bomb."
Large trees were uprooted from streets in the West Loop. On Madison Street, some of the toppled trees damaged cars.
Downed trees blocking streets and driveways were also seen in Bridgeview.
Damage in some other areas was caused by non-tornadic winds July 15—including 75 to 90 mph winds from New Lenox, Mokena, Tinley Park, Harvey, and Calumet to the northwestern part of Gary, Indiana; 80 mph winds from Broadview to the Austin neighborhood on Chicago's West Side; 80 mph winds from Schiller Park to Norridge; and 80 mph winds from Lombard to Villa Park.
The night of Monday, July 15, was the second consecutive night of tornadoes in the Chicago area, and also the second consecutive night that tornadoes touched down in the city—a rare phenomenon unto itself.
More than 200,000 Chicago area ComEd customers woke up Tuesday morning to power outages caused by the severe storm damage with flooding and downed trees.
A woman was killed after a tree fell on a home during severe storms near Cedar Lake, Indiana, on the night of July 15. According to the Lake County, Indiana Coroner's Office, the victim was identified as 44-year-old Laura Nagel. Her manner of death was listed in connection with the severe storm damage.
9 tornadoes confirmed Sunday, July 14
The weather service confirmed nine tornadoes, most EF-0s, that happened on the night of July 14. These included tornadoes at Midway Airport in Chicago and the Englewood neighborhood in Chicago.
The four others were in LaGrange (Cook County), St. Charles (Kane), Elburn (Kane), and Esmond (Ogle).
The NWS has surveyed the paths of each of the tornadoes on Sunday night last week:
- At 8:58 p.m., a tornado began just southwest of Esmond in DeKalb County and tracked southeast—lifting east of McQueen Road. The tornado damaged trees and crops and destroyed an outbuilding.
- At 9:33 p.m., a tornado with peak winds of 100 mph tracked for 1.4 miles through Elburn and lifted before Peck Road, It damaged trees and corn crops, and destroyed a metal farm building at the Hickory Equestrian Center.
- At 9:44 p.m., as strong straight-line winds were blowing into St. Charles, a brief tornado spun up north of Route 38 and east of Peck Road. It damaged a Metro Self Storage Building, damaged a greenhouse and tossed around shopping court corrals at a Meijer, knocked over a light pole, and snapped and uprooted several trees.
- At 10:23 p.m., a tornado began in LaGrange and tracked through Brookfield, Riverside, and Berwyn before ending in Cicero. Only trees were damaged.
- At 10:31 p.m., a tornado began just west of Midway International Airport and tracked over the airport—where it moved a 737 jet plane and slammed it into a jet bridge. The tornado plowed through the Southwest and South Side Chicago neighborhoods of West Elsdon, Gage Park, Back of the Yards, and Fuller Park—causing tree damage and minor roof damage to homes. This tornado then crossed the Dan Ryan Expressway and damaged more trees in Bronzeville and Kenwood, before going out to Lake Michigan.
- At 10:40 p.m., a tornado began at Englewood STEM High School, 6835 S. Normal Blvd., and tracked east northeast through the South Side before moving over Lake Michigan in Jackson Park. It mainly caused tree damage over its 3.6-mile track, but it also knocked over a train car and caused some roof damage.
A seventh tornado from the Sunday night storms was confirmed on Wednesday, July 24. It touched down just after midnight Monday morning in the Leeds area in LaSalle County, but its EF rating was unknown as it only tore through crops.
Two more tornadoes were confirmed Friday, Aug. 2 from the Sunday, July 14 system. One touched down between 12:03 and 12:07 a.m. the morning of Monday, July 15, and cut a four-mile path through the area of Dana, Illinois in LaSalle and Livingston counties.
The other cut a 1.9-mile path in the Ancona/Long Point area in Livingston County between 12:06 and 12:08 a.m. that same early morning.
Both of the latest tornadoes had unknown EF ratings, as they did not hit any manmade structures by which to judge their damage.