EF0 tornado, Joliet to Plainfield, Illinois, February 27, 2023

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

February 27, 2023

Touchdown

9:41 AM CST (15:41 UTC)

Lifted

9:44 AM CST (15:44 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.2 miles (3.5 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Kendall and Will counties

Touchdown point

41.550, -88.264

Lift-off point

41.577, -88.240

Record number

2302270941-01

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 85 mph.

• Strip of fascia also removed from second floor of house.
• Damage to fence with 2 wood panels blown east or east-northeast.
• Large spruce tree uprooted toward the north.
• Multiple large branches downed onto house, causing minor roof damage.

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

Scattered thunderstorms moved across northern Illinois during the morning of February 27th producing three tornadoes and isolated wind damage. High winds developed during the evening of February 27th resulting in isolated wind damage in Chicago where a large tree fell onto two homes in the 1700 block of 101st Street in the Beverly neighborhood of Chicago. Both homes suffered structural damage. A 48 year old man was taken to the hospital in good condition, though what his injuries were and how they occurred were unknown.

A tornado with peak winds of 85 mph touched down between Theodore Road and Kenicott Lane in Kendall County and moved northeast producing damage to trees and fences. A few softwood trees were uprooted. Minor roof damage occurred to several homes consisting mainly of shingles being removed. One house in the Clublands subdivision suffered siding damage after a trampoline was blown into it, resulting in parts of the trampoline being impaled into siding. The tornado crossed County Line Road, just north of Townsend Blvd and moved into western Will County.

A tornado with peak winds of 85 mph touched down in eastern Kendall County and crossed County Line Road, just north of Townsend Blvd, into western Will County. The tornado produced tree and fence damage along its path. A few softwood trees were uprooted. Security camera video near County Line Road showed a 10 to 15 second period of strong winds with debris being lofted to the north. Minor roof damage occurred to several homes consisting mainly of shingles being removed. The tornado lifted near Art Schultz Road.

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.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 12:57 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.

Joliet (JOT), 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), 15 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 15:39 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 2023 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

15 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.