EF2 tornado, Wilton to Chicago Hgts, Illinois, June 7, 2008

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF2

Date

June 7, 2008

Touchdown

6:13 PM CDT (23:13 UTC)

Lifted

6:30 PM CDT (23:30 UTC)

On the ground

17 minutes

Path length

6.5 miles (10.5 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

6

Property damage

$9.5 million

Counties

Will and Cook counties

Touchdown point

41.444, -87.770

Lift-off point

41.505, -87.675

Record number

0806071713-01

38 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LOT, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 80 mph.

• Shingle damage. From aerial imagery.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

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 northeast of Wilton Center, just north of Route 52 and east of Elevator Road, where there was minor tree damage. Based on photos and eyewitness reports, the tornado grew to about 400 yards wide but remained in open fields with few structures or trees in its path. At 120th Avenue, a garage was destroyed and all that remained was a cinder block base. A metal outbuilding was severely damaged. The tornado ended near Manhattan-Wilton Road, just west of Route 45.

A tornado touched down along Paulding Road just west of Center Road, south of the Green Garden Country Club. A garage was leveled and a house had part of its roof torn off and damage to the second story exterior walls. At the southwest corner of Bruns and 88th Avenue, barns and trees were damaged. The tornado continued along Bruns Road between 80th and 88th Avenues. On the south side of Bruns Road, a barn and an outbuilding were completely destroyed. The house lost a large section of the southeast wall on the second floor. Another house was heavily damaged with siding and a west wall blown off. North of Bruns Road, there was a barn that was practically destroyed with only a partial wall standing. A horse barn was destroyed with the stables intact and horses still standing in them. In the backyard of the next home, there were trees blown down and debris, such as trailers and a small rowboat were blown into the creek immediately north of Bruns Road. A chain link fence was pulled from the ground. Many trees were uprooted and blown over. Power lines were also blown down. The next house had damage to two garages. The doors were blown out of both garages and the roof of one garage was severely damaged. The house had siding and roof shingles blown off. A house at the east end of this section on Bruns Road, closest to 80th Avenue, had siding blown off and chimney damage. The tornado ended southwest of the intersection of Harlem Avenue and Manhattan-Monee Road, where there was minor tree damage.

A tornado developed near Ridgeland Avenue and Dralle Road, where a high tension metal truss tower collapsed and four others were damaged. Power lines blocked Interstate 57. The tornado destroyed a mobile home and outbuildings east of Ridgeland between Dralle and Stuenkel Roads before crossing Interstate 57. The tornado was rated EF2 in this area. Six people were injured in vehicles on Interstate 57. Several cars were damaged and a semi trailer was completely destroyed. East of Interstate 57 at Stuenkel Road, a large warehouse had bay doors blown in, much of the roof collapsed, and the west wall blown in. Utility poles were pushed over along South Central Avenue.

A tornado which touched down in northwest Will County, crossed Steger Road into Cook County, just west of Cicero Avenue. The tornado hit a subdivision on the northwest corner of Steger Road and Cicero Avenue. Large tree limbs were blown down and a couple trees were uprooted. Homes were somewhat sheltered by large trees and only sustained minor damage. One home near Cicero Avenue had part of its roof torn off. East of Cicero Avenue, the tornado weakened slightly as it moved through an apartment complex. Only minor damage to roofs, soffits and siding was noted. The tornado hit another subdivision along Imperial Drive. A few homes had garages partially collapsed or destroyed. The tornado then passed through an open area before crossing Governors Highway and the Illinois Central tracks, just south of Sauk Trail. The tornado hit an apartment complex just east of the highway and railroad tracks. One three story building had much of the roof ripped off and part of the third floor exterior walls blown down. Carports were collapsed and other buildings had minor damage. The tornado was rated EF2 in this area. The tornado moved through the intersection of Sauk Trail and Richton Square Road where a grocery store and car wash sustained damage. The tornado then weakened to EF0 intensity as it continued northeast across Central Park Avenue and the northwest part of Central Park. Only minor damage to trees was observed in a subdivision in this area. The tornado crossed the E J and E tracks, then it damaged a roof at an apartment complex near North Street and Orchard Drive. The last signs of tree damage were just southwest of the intersection of Lincoln Highway and Western Avenue. Multiple eyewitnesses reported a dog that was picked up by the tornado and carried a few hundred feet away. The dog, a 125 pound Rottweiler, was apparently unharmed.

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.

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

52 minutes of warning. NWS LOT issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:21 UTC, 52 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:02 UTC and running to 00:46 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 0.02 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 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.

Chicago/Lansing (IGQ), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 33 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:13 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

30 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.