Tornado in Illinois, July 18, 1997

Name: Tornado in Illinois, July 18, 1997
Start: 1997-07-18T14:30
End: 1997-07-18T14:30
Location: Illinois

July 18, 1997 · NWS LOT · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

The radar

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 30 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:31 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Du Page

When: July 18, 2:30 PM CST
Where: Du Page County, Wheaton
Rating: F1
Path length: 3 mi
Path width: 150 yd
Coordinates: 41.870, -88.120

The tornado path started near Cantigny at Roosevelt Road and ended just southeast of the Danada Shopping Center at Naperville Road and Butterfield Road.Extensive damage occurred at the Danada Square West shopping center, where windows were blown out. Many large trees were downed and a large tree was uprooted. A few houses sustained some structural damage, with one house condemned because of major structural damage. Several houses also incurred damage to fences, decks, roofs and windows. One house lost its garage door and part of the wall to the storm.

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Illinois in 1997 Every state in 1997 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Illinois, 1997 Warnings in Illinois, July 1997

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5610854.