Poplar Grove Tornado

It's hard to believe that it was already a year ago today that one of the Stateline's most bizarre weather events occurred. First off, let's dig into the archives of the weather blog and see how the event unfolded on our blog once the tornado watch was issued...

Tornado Watch issued
Eric's preliminary summary
Tracking the tornado
Preliminary damage report
National Weather Service surveys the damage
Tornado photos

I was able to dig into the Storm Prediction Center archives, as well. You can read the original technical "mesoscale discussion" regarding the imminent severe weather risk, as well the second tornado watch of 2008.

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And, some select messages from our chat with the NWS...

[13:27:10] Storm Prediction Center
issues Mesoscale Discussion (Link)
[20:33:29] SPC issues TORNADO watch
till 03:00Z (Link)
[21:04:37] LOT issues Severe
Thunderstorm Warning for Boone, Winnebago [IL] till 3:45 PM CST
(Link)
[21:12:38] LOT issues Tornado Warning
for Boone, Winnebago [IL] till 3:45 PM CST
(Link)

[21:13:11] hailing

[21:14:45] how big?

[21:18:36] pea sized...enough to cover the
ground

[21:20:43] anything spotted?

[21:20:50] negative, just strong meso

[21:26:20] LOT issues Tornado Warning
for Boone, McHenry [IL] till 4:00 PM CST
(Link)

[21:26:58] Chief Met Eric Sorensen: on the
phone with a trained spotter. wall cloud at N. Mulford Rd. and Riverside at
3:18pm. Rapidly moving NE too fast to chase.

[21:35:12] REX, spotters have tor on ground
just north of poplar grove
[21:37:37] Poplar Grove [Boone Co, IL]
trained spotter reports TORNADO at 03:35 PM CST -- tornado reported on the
ground.
(Link)
[21:45:36] Poplar Grove [Boone Co, IL]
law enforcement reports TORNADO at 03:40 PM CST -- preliminary path length of 3
miles.
(Link)
[21:56:25] N Harvard [Mchenry Co, IL]
trained spotter reports TORNADO at 03:53 PM CST -- tornado reported north of
harvard crossing route 14. semi turned over and transformer down.
(Link)
[22:03:38] we're working on confirming the
following: two people injured at Beaverton and Centerville Road near Poplar
Grove, propane gas leak at Leroy Center, semi flipped on US14 north of Harvard
[22:10:06] Hebron [Mchenry Co, IL]
trained spotter reports TSTM WND GST of E80 MPH at 04:05 PM CST --
(Link)
[22:27:42] 13WREX has confirmed a trapped
person or persons at Beaverton and Centerville Road. House levelled. Historic
barn at Edwards Apple Orchard in Poplar Grove destroyed.

[22:52:57] real quick: you all were ON TOP
OF IT ALL earlier today. In a busy day, I didn't want to let that by. The nice
lead time I am sure saved lives.

[22:53:25] thanks, rex...apprreciate that and
appreciate your help with the reports too

[22:53:42] anything more you hear on the
injuries/trapped people, we'd be interested in hearing

[22:53:53] I'll know at the top of the
hour
[23:21:43] The authorities aren't letting
us down the road. Our live microwave truck (along with numerous emergency
vehicles) is stuck in the mud. Roadways are "nearly impassable" from our
reporter in the field

[23:31:31] Our reporter at Edwards Apple
Orchard (an extremely popular fall attraction) in Boone Co. (7061 Centerville
Road Poplar Grove, IL ) was completely destroyed. "All of the barns and the
house next door were destroyed."

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Those of you who have some familiarity with severe weather terminology are aware of what we call a "hook echo," when the bottom of the storm looks like a hook on radar. That's a strong indicator of significant rotation. However, this storm had no hook echo. The only way to know it had rotation was to look at the "velocity" product of the radar. Red is wind blowing away from the radar, and green is wind blowing toward the radar. When they meet in a certain orientation, it indicates rotation within a storm. The Poplar Grove thunderstorm have strong rotation, especially considering the time of year!





You can read the event summary for this tornado by clicking here, and the event summary for the Wisconsin tornado by clicking here.