Tornado May Be Strongest For DuPage County In 45 Years
By Meteorologist Tammie Souza
NAPERVILLE, Ill. (CBS) -- Sunday night's EF-3 tornado that tore through DuPage County had wind speeds between 136 and 165 mph. Historical records show this is the first significant EF-2 or greater tornado in the county in 45 years. That occurred on June 13, 1976, when 200 mph winds from the EF-4 "Lemont" tornado carved an 8-mile path of destruction between Lemont and Downers Grove, killing two people and injuring 23 others.
A significant tornado is determined to be an EF-2 or higher on the Enhanced Fujita Tornado Scale. The scale is based on a correlation between wind speeds and damage caused.
It is yet to be determined if Sunday's tornado track traveled as far as Burr Ridge or Burbank in Cook County. If it did, this tornado would also make it the first significant tornado in Cook county since June 7, 2008, and the closest significant tornado to the Chicago City limits since March 27, 1991, and the first EF-3 tornado in Cook County since 1991.
There have been 95 significant tornadoes reported since 1885 in Cook and it's six collar counties of DuPage, Will, Kendall, Lake, Kane, and Lake (Indiana).
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