Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2008
EF0 tornado, Park Forest to Lansing, Illinois, June 7, 2008
From Park Forest to Lansing, this EF0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Cook County on June 7, 2008, touching down at 6:48 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- June 7, 2008
- Touchdown
- 6:48 PM CDT (23:48 UTC)
- Lifted
- 6:49 PM CDT (23:49 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.4 miles (0.7 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $10,000
- County
- Cook County
- Touchdown point
- 41.572, -87.534
- Lift-off point
- 41.574, -87.526
- Record number
- 0806071748-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A single supercell thunderstorm developed over western Illinois and moved northeast reaching Lake Michigan near the Illinois Indiana state line several hours later. This single thunderstorm produced eight different tornadoes as it moved east across Illinois.
A tornado touched down in South Chicago Heights in the Schubert's Woods Forest Preserve just north of Sauk Trail and west of Forest Preserve Drive. This tornado then tracked northeast across the forest, eventually emerging from the forest near Euclid and west 26th Streets. At this location, large trees were uprooted and portions of a roof were lifted off a large warehouse building. The tornado continued northeast across residential areas north of 26th Street and west of Chicago Road. In this neighborhood, several homes sustained minor damage with two houses sustaining significant damage from large trees falling onto the homes. The tornado continued northeast across Chicago Road eventually lifting near 16th Street and Center Street. Damage to trees was noted all along the path including several large uprooted or snapped in half.
A brief tornado touched down near 179th street, east of Burnham Road and ended near the Indiana State line and 177th Street. Several tree limbs were blown down. One tree limb fell onto a car.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
40 minutes of warning. NWS LOT issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:08 UTC, 40 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:15 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:02 UTC and running to 00:46 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21:02 UTC | 00:46 UTC | Tornado Watch | LOT |
| 22:07 UTC | 22:39 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT |
| 22:21 UTC | 23:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | LOT |
| 23:08 UTC | 00:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | LOT |
| 23:32 UTC | 00:07 UTC | Tornado Warning | LOT |
| 23:36 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT |
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 20:01 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
11.8 hours before the tornado, 182 km from the path. June 7, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2468 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -6 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2103 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 502 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 28 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 32 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 139 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 181 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.5
- Supercell composite
- 7.7
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.9 K/km
Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z
0.2 hours after it, 182 km from the path. June 8, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 3334 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -4 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3623 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1125 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 23 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 18 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 75 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 102 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 7.0 K/km
The surface observations
Chicago/Lansing (IGQ), 4 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:25 UTC | 78.8 | 71.6 | 170° 15 kt | 22 | 1011.9 | |
| 21:45 UTC | 78.8 | 71.6 | 180° 14 kt | 1012.2 | ||
| 22:05 UTC | 78.8 | 73.4 | 170° 14 kt | 19 | 1011.2 | -TSRA |
| 22:25 UTC | 78.8 | 73.4 | 170° 15 kt | 20 | 1010.8 | |
| 22:45 UTC | 78.8 | 73.4 | 170° 11 kt | 18 | 1010.8 | -VCTSRA |
| 23:05 UTC | 80.6 | 73.4 | 170° 10 kt | 17 | 1011.2 | VCTS |
| 23:25 UTC | 78.8 | 73.4 | 180° 6 kt | 1010.8 | +RA | |
| 23:45 UTC | 77 | 75.2 | 70° 7 kt | 1009.5 | +TSRA | |
| 00:05 UTC | 78.8 | 75.2 | 230° 3 kt | 15 | 1010.2 | -TSRA |
| 00:25 UTC | 78.8 | 75.2 | 170° 9 kt | 14 | 1010.2 | TS |
| 00:45 UTC | 78.8 | 75.2 | 180° 13 kt | 19 | 1009.8 | |
| 01:05 UTC | 80.6 | 75.2 | 190° 12 kt | 17 | 1009.8 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Chicago radar (KLOT), 46 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:45 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:33 UTC | TORNADO | Symerton | Will, IL | WARNER BRIDGE AND 113. |
| 22:35 UTC | TORNADO | 2 E Wilmington | Will, IL | |
| 22:37 UTC | TORNADO | 5 Se Wilmington | Will, IL | BETWEEN OLD CHICAGO ROAD AND WARNER BRIDGE ROAD. |
| 22:40 UTC | TORNADO | 2 E Wilmington | Will, IL | HALF MILE WIDE TORNADO ON THE GROUND |
| 22:43 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Se Wilmington | Will, IL | FLYING DEBRIS FALLING FROM THE SKY. |
| 22:43 UTC | TORNADO | 6 W Manteno | Kankakee, IL | TORNADO ON THE GROUND |
| 22:46 UTC | TORNADO | 2 E Symerton | Will, IL | STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO HOMES NEAR OLD CHIGAGO ROAD. SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATIONS UNDERWAY. |
| 22:46 UTC | TORNADO | 9 E Wilmington | Kankakee, IL | SPOTTER LOOKING EAST FROM NORTH OF WILMINGTON |
| 22:51 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Symerton | Will, IL | PEOTONE ROAD. |
| 22:58 UTC | TORNADO | 10 S Frankfort | Will, IL | LARGE TORNADO ON THE GROUND |
| 23:00 UTC | TORNADO | Monee | Will, IL | ON BRUNNS ROAD AND 88TH A HOUSE DAMAGED. IN PAULING CENTER METAL BUILDING DOWN. |
| 23:05 UTC | TORNADO | 5 S Frankfort | Will, IL | SPOTTER FOLLOWING STORM. POWER LINES DOWN. APPROXIMATELY 5 TO 10 MILES SOUTH OF FRANKFORT. |
| 23:06 UTC | TORNADO | 5 Sw Monee | Will, IL | LARGE TORNADO ON MANHATTAN MONEE ROAD. |
| 23:10 UTC | TORNADO | 4 N Peotone | Will, IL | PAULING ROAD AND 80TH R0AD. |
| 23:10 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Sw Monee | Will, IL | TORNADO SEEN EAST OF ROUTE 45 AND THE LOCATION OF THE SPOTTER WAS SOUTH OF MANHATTAN |
| 23:11 UTC | TORNADO | 1 W Monee | Will, IL | RIDGELAND AND EAGLE LAKE ROAD LARGE TORNADO ON THE GROUND. |
| 23:15 UTC | TORNADO | Frankfort | Will, IL | LARGE TORNADO ROUTE 45 AND BRUNS ROAD. |
| 23:16 UTC | TORNADO | 1 W Monee | Will, IL | TORNADO AT MANHATTAN MONEE ROAD AND HARLEM AVE. FOUR HOUSES DAMAGED |
| 23:16 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Ne Monee | Will, IL | TORNADO ON THE GROUND |
| 23:16 UTC | TORNADO | 2 N Monee | Will, IL | TORNADO 1 MILE WEST OF INTERSTATE 57 AT MILE MARKER 335 |
| 23:20 UTC | TORNADO | 2 N Monee | Will, IL | TORNADO 1 MILE WEST OF INTERSTATE 57 AT MILE MARKER 335 |
| 23:20 UTC | TORNADO | 3 S Matteson | Cook, IL | TOUCH DOWN MULTIPLE VORTEX TORNADO MOVING NORTHEAST. LOCATION AT ROUTE 57 AND STUNKEL |
| 23:22 UTC | TORNADO | Richton Park | Cook, IL | LARGE TORNADO ON THE GROUND. |
| 23:24 UTC | TORNADO | Richton Park | Cook, IL | GOVERNORS HIGHWAY AND STUNKEL ROAD. |
| 23:29 UTC | TORNADO | University Park | Will, IL | BETWEEN UNIVERSITY PARK AND RICHTON PARK. |
| 23:33 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Park Forest | Cook, IL | SOUTHEAST SIDE OF PARK FOREST ROTATING FUNNEL CLOUD |
| 23:34 UTC | TORNADO | Park Forest | Cook, IL | TORNADO NORTH OF OLD MONEE ROAD SOUTH OF SUALK TRAIL |
| 23:35 UTC | TORNADO | Frankfort | Will, IL | DAMAGE REPORT...WOOD BARN LEVELED AND SIDING RIPPED OFF A HOUSE AT 26907 CENTER STREET. |
| 23:38 UTC | TORNADO | Richton Park | Cook, IL | DAMAGE AT SAUK TRAIL AND RICHTON SQUARE ROAD FROM TORNADO. REPORTED BY RICH TOWNSHIP EMERGENCY MANAGER. |
| 23:50 UTC | FLOOD | Homewood | Cook, IL | FLOODED VIADUCT 183RD AND DIXIE HIGHWAY |
| 23:50 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 0 | Homewood | Cook, IL | 1.57 INCHES IN 45 MINUTES FROM COCORAHS OBSERVER. |
| 23:50 UTC | TORNADO | Lansing | Cook, IL | SPOTTER IS 1 MILE EAAST OF SUAK VILLAGE LOOKING NORTH TOEARDS LANSING ILLINOIS |
| 23:50 UTC | TORNADO | Richton Park | Cook, IL | HOMES WERE FLATTEN IN RICHTON PARK ILLINOIS |
| 23:51 UTC | TORNADO | Lansing | Cook, IL | TORNADO ON THE GROUND NEAR LANSING. SPOTTER SEES THE TORNDAO FROM SHERERVILLE |
| 23:52 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Homewood | Cook, IL | 183RD AND GOVERNORS HIGHWAY SPOTTER SAW ROTATING WALL CLOUD BUT NO TORNADO. |
| 23:54 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Lansing | Cook, IL | ROTATION IN CLOUDS. |
| 23:55 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 0 | Flossmoor | Cook, IL | 1.32 INCHES IN 45 MINUTES. |
| 23:57 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Glenwood | Cook, IL | |
| 00:14 UTC | TORNADO | Richton Park | Cook, IL | DAMAGE REPORT. HOUSES DESTROYED EAST OF GOVERNORS HIGHWAY. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 7, 2008
30 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 7 | 1:52 PM CDT | EF0 | Grant, WI | 0.1 | 30 | $750 | ||
| June 7 | 1:57 PM CDT | EF1 | Marquette, WI | 5.1 | 100 | $302,000 | ||
| June 7 | 2:32 PM CDT | EF2 | Columbia, WI | 8.6 | 3,520 | 6 | $2.5 million | |
| June 7 | 3:05 PM CDT | EF0 | Dodge, WI | 2.2 | 25 | |||
| June 7 | 3:08 PM CDT | EF1 | Columbia, WI | 2.9 | 75 | $200,000 | ||
| June 7 | 3:16 PM CDT | EF0 | Sauk, WI | 0.4 | 25 | |||
| June 7 | 3:25 PM CDT | EF0 | Dane, WI | 0.5 | 25 | |||
| June 7 | 3:38 PM CDT | EF0 | Dane, WI | 0.2 | 25 | |||
| June 7 | 3:41 PM CDT | EF1 | Winnebago, IA | 6.4 | 150 | $250,000 | ||
| June 7 | 3:49 PM CDT | EF0 | Jefferson, WI | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 7 | 4:16 PM CDT | EF0 | Worth, IA | 1.7 | 75 | |||
| June 7 | 4:21 PM CDT | EF0 | Livingston, IL | 0.9 | 20 | |||
| June 7 | 4:23 PM CDT | EF0 | Worth, IA | 2.1 | 50 | $5,000 | ||
| June 7 | 4:31 PM CDT | EF1 | Livingston, IL | 3.6 | 40 | $50,000 | ||
| June 7 | 4:40 PM CDT | EF1 | Dane, WI | 3.8 | 150 | $429,000 | ||
| June 7 | 4:50 PM CDT | EF0 | Houston, MN | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| June 7 | 4:50 PM CDT | EF0 | Mitchell, IA | 0.3 | 30 | |||
| June 7 | 5:18 PM CDT | EF2 | Kankakee, IL | 14.5 | 200 | $500,000 | ||
| June 7 | 5:28 PM CDT | EF0 | Mitchell, IA | 1.1 | 25 | |||
| June 7 | 5:37 PM CDT | EF0 | Waukesha, WI | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| June 7 | 5:42 PM CDT | EF0 | Cerro Gordo, IA | 1.0 | 40 | $5,000 | ||
| June 7 | 5:45 PM CDT | EF1 | La Crosse, WI | 6.0 | 200 | $93,000 | ||
| June 7 | 5:48 PM CDT | EF0 | Vernon, WI | 0.4 | 50 | $15,000 | ||
| June 7 | 5:51 PM CDT | EF2 | Will, IL | 2.2 | 400 | $50,000 | ||
| June 7 | 5:55 PM CDT | EF2 | Will, IL | 3.7 | 150 | $500,000 | ||
| June 7 | 6:13 PM CDT | EF2 | Will, IL | 6.5 | 150 | 6 | $9.5 million | |
| June 7 | 6:32 PM CDT | EF1 | Cook, IL | 2.0 | 75 | $1.0 million | ||
| June 7 | 6:55 PM CDT | EF0 | Osborne, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 7 | 8:28 PM CDT | EF0 | Osborne, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 7 | 8:37 PM CDT | EF0 | Smith, KS | 0.1 | 50 |
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.