Click on the "Tornado Strength Map" for a more detailed look at the storm's path.Here is the official report from the National Weather Service-Romeoville, Illinois:
A weather pattern more typical of early May than early January across northern Illinois brought severe weather to the area Monday afternoon. Originally two tornadoes were reported with these storms in Boone County and McHenry County along the Wisconsin border. On Tuesday, damage surveys conducted by National Weather Service personnel revealed one long continuous path from a single tornado.
The tornado was rated EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale with maximum winds of 136 to 165 MPH. The tornado had a path length of 13.2 miles and a maximum width of around 100 yards. The tornado started at 3:30 PM about 1.2 miles north of Poplar Grove in Boone County and ended at 3:48 PM about 3.2 miles north-northeast of Harvard in McHenry County. There were four injuries in Boone County and one in McHenry County.
Please refer to the full Public Information Statement for additional details.
The National Weather Service has tornado records dating back to 1950. In this 58 year period of record, only one other tornado has ever been documented anywhere in north central or northeast Illinois in the month of January. That tornado occurred on January 25, 1950 at Momence in Kankakee County. It was rated F2 on the Fujita scale. It was a day similar to Monday with temperatures in the middle 60s. In fact, Chicago set the all time record high for the month of January, with a temperature of 67 degrees, on that date.
3 comments:
I just read on the NWS website that they have rated it officially and EF-3. Thank goodness there were no fatalities and it hit mostly rural areas and farm field. Like eric said, had it formed abot 10 minutes soon, rockford would have been torn apar, although the path it took I think it would have gone just north of where I am. It almost seems like if you live south of riverside, you were spared pretty good, but north of there was bad.
Here is some info from NWS in Milwaukee about what happened with that tornado after it crossed the state line into Wisconsin. Some stunning photos...
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=mkx&storyid=12112&source=0
The photos of the tornado are great.
Thanks for that link with the photos from WI. They are really amazing. I can't even imagine the anguish of seeing your belongings strewn all over the foundation of your house. How horrible.
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