F0 tornado, Nelson, Illinois, June 18, 1998

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. F3158 to 206 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. F5261 to 318 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

F0

Date

June 18, 1998

Touchdown

6:55 PM CDT (23:55 UTC)

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Lee County

Touchdown point

41.800, -89.600

Lift-off point

41.800, -89.600

Record number

480

A squall line moved east across north central and northeast Illinois causing widespread wind damage to trees and power lines. In Winnebago County, there were numerous trees and tree limbs downed in Loves Park and Machesney Park and the roof was torn off a sheet metal business. A small, brief tornado occurred in a field between Nelson and Dixon in Lee County. Golfball size hail was reported at the La Salle/Putnam County line and trees and utility poles were downed in western La Salle County. In Boone County, at Oak Lawn mobile home park at Poplar Grove many trees and limbs were blown down. Mobile homes and vehicles were damaged. A 120 year old, landmark barn was destroyed between Capron and Poplar Grove. Tree limbs and power lines were reported to be blown down in De Kalb and McHenry Counties. In Kane County trees were damaged in several towns along Highway 25. In Kendall County, a ham radio operator/storm spotter in Sandwich recorded a 74 mph wind gust and a large tree fell on a house in Yorkville. In Will County, a 70 mph wind gust was recorded at the NWS office in Romeoville. A bleacher was blown over in Homer Township. Wind gusts blew vehicles off I-80 just east of I-55 in Joliet. In Du Page County the scoreboard was destroyed at Naperville North High School and trees were downed in Bolingbrook. In Lake County a mobile home was blown over at Wadsworth. In Cook County, observers measured a 58 mph wind gust on the west side of Chicago and a 64 mph wind gust in Midlothian. Trees were damaged in the north suburbs of Glencoe, Wilmette and Winetka. The gym roof at Field School in Northbrook was peeled off. Four planes were damaged at Palwaukee Airport. In the west and south suburbs, the roof of a transmission shop was damaged in Bridgeview. Trees were blown down in Brookfield and Hodgkins. Siding on houses and fences were also damaged. In Evergreen Park a tree fell, damaging 2 houses. A 22 year old man was seriously injured when a tree fell on him in Chicago. Funnel clouds were spotted in Lake County and waterspouts were seen east of Wilmette. Damage to power lines resulted in 156,000 customers losing power.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

10 minutes of warning. NWS LOT issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:45 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:15 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 14:31 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 84 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:57 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1998 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

21 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.