Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2007

EF0 tornado, Bolingbrook, Illinois, August 5, 2007

This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Will County on August 5, 2007, touching down at 6:13 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $40,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

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

  3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

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

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

  6. EF5over 200 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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
August 5, 2007
Touchdown
6:13 PM CDT (23:13 UTC)
Lifted
6:14 PM CDT (23:14 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.3 miles (0.6 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$40,000
County
Will County
Touchdown point
41.670, -88.130
Lift-off point
41.670, -88.130
Record number
0708051713-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A severe storm produced a brief tornado during the evening hours of Sunday, August 5th, 2007.

A tornado touched down in the southwest corner of Bolingbrook. A construction trailer was flipped over and shingles were blown off a barn about a quarter mile north of the intersection of 127th and Essington Road. There was structural damage to a townhouse about 600 feet northeast of the barn. Other damage included portable toliets turned over, large branches blown down from a willow tree and small trees were uprooted.

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

The warnings

4 minutes of warning. NWS LOT issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:09 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:42 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:09 UTC23:42 UTCTornado WarningLOT
23:09 UTC05:15 UTCFlash Flood WarningLOT
00:22 UTC01:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 21:25 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 air that afternoon

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.

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 12:00Z

11.2 hours before the tornado, 174 km from the path. August 5, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2007-08-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1259 joules per kilogram, CIN -64, lifted condensation level 1044 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2007-08-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 25 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 28 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1259 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-64 J/kg
Surface CAPE
349 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1044 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
30 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.7
0-3 km lapse rate
4.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

0.8 hours after it, 174 km from the path. August 6, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2007-08-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1547 joules per kilogram, CIN -71, lifted condensation level 1378 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2007-08-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 190 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 26 knots.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1547 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-71 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2704 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1378 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
190 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
284 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.9
Supercell composite
10.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Romeoville/Chi (LOT), 7 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:25 UTC82.477230° 11 kt141008.5
21:45 UTC84.277240° 8 kt1008.1
22:05 UTC84.277230° 9 kt1008.1
22:25 UTC84.277250° 8 kt1008.1
22:45 UTC82.477230° 7 kt1007.8
23:05 UTC80.677350° 9 kt1008.5-TSRA
23:26 UTC78.875.20° 0 kt1008.5TS BR
00:05 UTC80.678.8250° 7 kt1007.8-TSRA
00:25 UTC80.677260° 5 kt1007.8VCTS BR
00:45 UTC78.877240° 5 kt1007.8BR
01:05 UTC78.877220° 5 kt1008.5VCTS BR

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

The radar

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 8 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:12 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
23:05 UTCFLOODRomeovilleWill, ILFLOOD WATERS OVER CURBS IN CITY.
23:13 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Nw RomeovilleWill, ILFARM HOUSE DAMAGE AT 12413 ESSINGTON ROAD. TIME AND LOCATION CONSISTENT WITH TORNADO OBSERVATION.
23:13 UTCTSTM WND DMGBolingbrookWill, ILSHINGLES OFF A BARN ON A FARM IN THE VICINITY OF 127TH STREET AND ESSINGTON ROAD. LARGE LIMBS DOWN. SOME LIGHT DAMAGE TO A FEW BUILDINGS IN THE TOWN HOME VILLAGE SUB-DIVISION. BASEMENT WINDOW BROKEN BY FLYING DEBRIS.
23:13 UTCTORNADOBolingbrookWill, ILSHINGLES OFF A BARN ON A FARM IN THE VICINITY OF 127TH STREET AND ESSINGTON ROAD. LARGE LIMBS DOWN. SOME LIGHT DAMAGE TO A FEW BUILDINGS IN THE TOWN HOME VILLAGE SUB-DIVISION. BASEMENT WINDOW BROKEN BY FLYING DEBRIS.
23:18 UTCTORNADO2 N RomeovilleWill, IL
00:18 UTCTSTM WND GST 65CreteWill, ILESTIMATED WIND GUST 65 TO 70 MPH.
00:23 UTCFLOOD5 W Coal CityGrundy, ILINTERSECTION OF IL-47 AND IL-113. RAINFALL AROUND THE RATE OF 2 INCHES PER HOUR.
01:15 UTCHEAVY RAIN 0PeotoneWill, IL2.55 INCHES OF RAIN IN 90 MINUTES.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 5, 2007

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 57:50 PM EDTEF0Seneca, OH0.810$60,000
August 58:42 PM EDTEF0Wyandot, OH0.810$75,000

What this means

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.

Sources

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