EF0 tornado, Naperville to Joliet, Illinois, July 23, 2022

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

July 23, 2022

Touchdown

5:40 AM CDT (10:40 UTC)

Lifted

5:46 AM CDT (10:46 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

4.5 miles (7.2 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

DuPage and Will counties

Touchdown point

41.726, -88.221

Lift-off point

41.668, -88.186

Record number

2207230440-01

42 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 85 mph.

• Fencing material on NE field blown down.
• Damage around clubhouse grounds.
• Fence downed by falling tree limbs. small amount of roof covering removed from adjacent apartment building.
• Approximate starting point of the tornado. Visible damage started here.

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

Thunderstorms developed late in the evening of July 22nd across northeast Illinois and continued into the morning of July 23rd. Numerous thunderstorms moved over the same areas across portions of Lake County, producing torrential rain and flash flooding. Large hail also occurred. Three tornadoes occurred in the southern suburbs of Chicago just after sunrise. Additional thunderstorms developed during the morning and continued into the afternoon of July 23rd, producing isolated large hail and wind damage.

A tornado with peak winds of 85 mph touched down just north of the DuPage Will County line and moved southeast through the White Eagle Golf Course. Approximately a dozen golf carts were damaged, several softwood trees were snapped and numerous tree limbs were blown down. The tornado was likely at peak intensity of 85 mph when it moved through the golf course. The tornado continued southeast crossing Route 59, just north of 95th Street. Several small trees were snapped and some roofing material was blown off a shopping plaza at the intersection of Route 59 and 95th Street. Bleachers were tossed and fencing was blown down near Neuqua Valley High School. The tornado produced sporadic tree damage as it continued southeast through residential areas, east of Route 59. The tornado lifted near 119th Street and Book Road.

A tornado with peak winds of 70 mph touched down along Pinnacle Drive, just north of Renwick Road. A construction camera at Lewis University Airport showed the tornado likely lifted then briefly touched down as it moved south into the Prairie Bluff Forest Preserve south of Renwick Road before lifting again. The tornado touched down again near the Statesville Correctional Center where it caused minor tree damage. The tornado continued moving south across Caton Farm Road and entered a residential area of Crest Hill. A concentrated area of damage including several uprooted trees and numerous broken tree limbs was found in the vicinity of Elsie and Highland Avenues. The tornado paralleled Highland Avenue and Clement Street as it crossed into the far north side of Joliet, where it produced sporadic tree limb damage. Numerous trees were damaged in the Mount Moriah Cemetery and the tornado lifted just southeast of the cemetery.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 09:01 UTC and running to 17:00 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 05:50 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), 13 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 14 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:40 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 2022 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

7 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.