F1 tornado, Joliet to Wilmington, Illinois, May 30, 2003

1. F040 to 72 mph

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

2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

   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

F1

Date

May 30, 2003

Touchdown

8:25 PM CDT (01:25 UTC)

Path length

5.7 miles (9.2 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$60,000

County

Will County

Touchdown point

41.530, -88.100

Lift-off point

41.570, -88.000

Record number

985

Several supercell thunderstorms moved across northern Illinois during the evening hours of May 30th. Several tornadoes formed with these supercells with the strongest tornadoes and most extensive damage across Joliet and Lockport in Will counties. In addition to the tornadoes, wind damage was also reported across the area. Trees were blown down in Silver Springs State Park west of Yorkville in Kendall county. Trees and power lines were reported down in Somonauk in Dekalb county. Several trees and power lines were blown down near Lake Holiday in far northwest La Salle county and windows were blown out of some mobile homes near the Lake Holiday area. Large trees and power lines were blown down from Plainfield to Joliet. One tree fell onto a house. A gust to 80 mph was reported between Central Ave and Cicero Ave near 53rd in Chicago. Trees were reported down in Manteno in Kankakee county. Tree limbs were blown down across parts of McHenry county. In Paxton in Ford county, high winds damaged a farm shed, causing the roof to fall onto a tractor. A large tree fell onto a van, causing significant damage and the roof of a grain bin was damaged.

A tornado touched down on the west side of Joliet from the Dupage River, one half mile north of Black Road to near Ingalls and Gael Roads, about five miles northwest of downtown Joliet. The tornado broke tree limbs and uprooted a couple of trees in subdivisions between Frontage Road along Interstate 55 and Essington Roads. A garage was damaged and roofs of some homes were damaged. An apartment building roof was torn off north of Ingalls Street, east of Essington Road.

A second tornado touched down two miles north of downtown Joliet, near the Des Plaines River, about a half mile south of Bruce Road. The tornado continued east and lifted about four miles southeast of Lockport near Cedar and Bruce Roads. The tornado severely damaged commercial buildings on Route 171 south of Bruce Road. It ripped apart cinder block and metal buildings and some of the debris was deposited over 100 yards away. A house one the east side of 171 was damaged. Tree limbs were blown down in the Fairmont neighborhood. Outbuildings were damaged on Briggs street near Oak Street. There was also tree damage eastward to a subdivision south of Bruce Street west of Cedar Road.

A weak tornado touched down in a field about 2 miles east of Wilmington near Old Chicago Road. No damage was reported.

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

32 minutes of warning. NWS LOT issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:53 UTC, 32 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:45 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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:34 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.

Romeoville/Chi (LOT), 8 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 7 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:23 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 2003 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

20 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.