Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2024
Unrated tornado, DeKalb County, Illinois, February 27, 2024
This Unrated tornado ran 1.3 miles across DeKalb County on February 27, 2024, touching down at 6:28 PM CST and reaching 120 yards wide. It killed nobody.
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 mph
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.
Unratedthis tornado
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
- Unrated
- Date
- February 27, 2024
- Touchdown
- 6:28 PM CST (00:28 UTC)
- Lifted
- 6:30 PM CST (00:30 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 1.3 miles (2.1 km)
- Path width
- 120 yards (110 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- DeKalb County
- Touchdown point
- 41.803, -88.751
- Lift-off point
- 41.798, -88.730
- Record number
- 2402271828-01
The damage survey
35 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LOT, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.
- Roofing material removed. Trees snapped.
- Light pole from lot N4 thrown approximately 80 yards northeast into lot N5.
- Minor shingle damage to a residence on a farm. Potentially an area of enhanced straight line wind damage southeast of a brief tornado.
- camping trailer overturned. shingles removed, kids play set toppled.
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
The warnings
6 minutes of warning. NWS LOT issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:22 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:01 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:54 UTC and running to 02:57 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21:54 UTC | 02:57 UTC | Tornado Watch | LOT |
| 23:44 UTC | 01:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT |
| 00:03 UTC | 02:45 UTC | Flood Advisory | LOT |
| 00:22 UTC | 01:01 UTC | Tornado Warning | LOT |
| 00:27 UTC | 00:59 UTC | Tornado Warning | LOT |
| 03:00 UTC | 12:00 UTC | Wind Advisory | 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.
Davenport, (KDVN), 00:00Z
0.5 hours before the tornado, 147 km from the path. February 28, 2024.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -92672 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2265 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 53 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 25 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 271 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 422 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.9 K/km
Davenport, (KDVN), 12:00Z
11.5 hours after it, 147 km from the path. February 28, 2024.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -117077 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1011 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 80 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -159 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -125 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 2.7 K/km
The surface observations
De Kalb (DKB), 15 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:35 UTC | 68 | 53.2 | 170° 9 kt | 991.5 | ||
| 22:55 UTC | 67.5 | 53.8 | 150° 8 kt | 991.5 | ||
| 23:15 UTC | 66.4 | 54.5 | 150° 9 kt | 991.5 | ||
| 23:35 UTC | 66.2 | 55 | 130° 8 kt | 990.5 | ||
| 23:55 UTC | 64.4 | 55.8 | 110° 10 kt | 989.5 | -VCTSRA | |
| 00:15 UTC | 62 | 49 | 260° 3 kt | 21 | 989.8 | +TSRA |
| 00:35 UTC | 57 | 45 | 10° 13 kt | 990.9 | +TSRA | |
| 00:55 UTC | 53.8 | 46 | 30° 19 kt | 22 | 990.9 | +TSRA |
| 01:15 UTC | 54.5 | 46.2 | 0° 0 kt | 992.2 | +TSRA | |
| 01:35 UTC | 53 | 49 | 60° 8 kt | 990.9 | -RA | |
| 01:55 UTC | 55.4 | 47.3 | 340° 4 kt | 989.8 | -VCTSRA | |
| 02:15 UTC | 58.3 | 44.6 | 250° 6 kt | 988.5 | -TSDZ |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Chicago radar (KLOT), 59 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:30 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:28 UTC | HAIL 1 | 6 W Sublette | Lee, IL | Relayed via mPING. |
| 23:57 UTC | HAIL 1.5 | 4 Sw Steward | Lee, IL | Ping pong ball sized hail. |
| 23:58 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 3 W West Brooklyn | Lee, IL | Photo shows funnel cloud between Sublette and West Brooklyn. Observer was near IL-251 and Welland Road looking WNW at 558 PM. |
| 00:06 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 3 Wnw Sublette | Lee, IL | Relayed via HAM radio operator. At least golf ball sized hail. |
| 00:15 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Nne Compton | Lee, IL | An NWS damage survey confirmed that a brief EF-0 tornado with estimated peak winds of 70 mph touched down northeast of Compton and caused roof damage to a farm outbuilding. |
| 00:16 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Sublette | Lee, IL | Photo of estimated golf ball size hail. Time estimated. |
| 00:17 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 1 Ne Compton | Lee, IL | Photo shared via social media shows funnel cloud halfway to the ground just northeast of Compton. Photographer location near Earlville. |
| 00:20 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Paw Paw | Lee, IL | Multiple photos shared via social media show funnel cloud near Paw Paw. |
| 00:30 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Ne Waterman | De Kalb, IL | Trained spotter reports a tornado on the ground 2 miles northeast of Waterman. |
| 00:30 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Ne Waterman | De Kalb, IL | Corrects previous tornado report from 2 NE Waterman. Trained spotter reports a tornado on the ground 2 miles northeast of Waterman. |
| 00:30 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Ne Waterman | De Kalb, IL | An NWS damage survey confirmed that a brief EF-0 tornado with estimated peak winds of 65 mph touched down northeast of Waterman and caused minor damage to a farmstead. |
| 00:37 UTC | HAIL 2 | Shabbona | De Kalb, IL | Photo shared via social media showing 2 inch diameter hail in Shabbona. Time estimated from radar. |
| 00:52 UTC | HAIL 1 | Huntley | Mchenry, IL | Public report of quarter sized hail in Huntley. |
| 00:54 UTC | TORNADO | 1 S Hinckley | De Kalb, IL | An NWS damage survey confirmed that an EF-0 tornado with estimated peak winds of 85 mph, a path length of 4.8 miles, and a maximum width of 175 yards touched down south of Hinckley and tracked into Big Rock. The tornado |
| 00:55 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Sw Big Rock | Kane, IL | A couple of farm outbuildings and trees were damaged near and southwest of Big Rock, south of the path of the Hinckley to Big Rock tornado. After footage from storm chasers was reviewed and an NWS damage survey was condu |
| 00:57 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Wsw Big Rock | Kane, IL | Photo shared of a tornado near Hinckley. |
| 00:58 UTC | TORNADO | 3 E Maple Park | Kane, IL | An NWS damage survey confirmed that an EF-0 tornado with estimated peak winds of 80 mph, a path length of 5.9 miles, and a maximum width of 125 yards touched down between Maple Park and Elburn and tracked into Campton Hi |
| 01:01 UTC | HAIL 1 | 2 Nnw Somonauk | De Kalb, IL | Near intersection of Council Rd and Suydam Rd. |
| 01:05 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 3 Nw Sugar Grove | Kane, IL | Aurora PD observed funnel cloud near Sugar Grove from Orchard Road in Aurora. |
| 01:05 UTC | TSTM WND GST 63 | Sugar Grove | Kane, IL | Peak Gust 55 knots at KARR. |
| 01:05 UTC | HAIL 1 | 3 Ese Maple Park | Kane, IL | Relayed via mPING. Time estimated by radar. |
| 01:05 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Nnw Sugar Grove | Kane, IL | Reports of damage to trees, power poles, and fencing at Waubonsee Community College likely associated with a tornado. |
| 01:06 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Elburn | Kane, IL | Fence panels and a large tree limb were downed in Elburn. Time estimated from radar. |
| 01:06 UTC | HAIL 1.25 | 1 Ene Somonauk | De Kalb, IL | Relayed via mPING. |
| 01:06 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Nnw Sugar Grove | Kane, IL | An NWS damage survey confirmed that an EF-1 tornado with estimated peak winds of 95 mph, a path length of 8.2 miles, and a maximum width of 125 yards tracked from Sugar Grove to Batavia, damaging trees, signs, roofs, and |
| 01:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 W Batavia | Kane, IL | Mobile office trailer within a construction site in the Jewell Osco parking lot flipped on its side. Shopping cart corrals also blown around. |
| 01:17 UTC | TORNADO | 2 W Geneva | Kane, IL | An NWS damage survey confirmed that an EF-1 tornado with estimated peak winds of 95 mph, a path length of 0.9 miles, and a maximum width of 125 yards impacted the west side of Geneva, damaging trees and traffic lights, w |
| 01:20 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 1 Ese Geneva | Kane, IL | St Charles EMA reports funnel cloud observed via security camera. Location estimated by radar. |
| 01:24 UTC | TSTM WND GST 61 | Dupage Airport | Dupage, IL | Measured gust to 53 knots at KDPA. |
| 01:25 UTC | HAIL 1 | 1 N Wayne | Kane, IL | Photo shared via social media showing 1 inch diameter hail in Wayne. Time estimated from radar. |
| 01:28 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 1 W Oswego | Kendall, IL | Nickel sized hail briefly occurred near US-34 and Orchard Road in Oswego. Time estimated by radar. |
| 01:30 UTC | HAIL 1 | 3 Sse East Dundee | Cook, IL | Relayed via mPING. Time estimated by radar. |
| 01:32 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Wnw Hoffman Estates | Cook, IL | An NWS damage survey confirmed that an EF-0 tornado with estimated peak winds of 80 mph, a path length of 0.7 miles, and a maximum width of 100 yards impacted Hoffman Estates. This tornado damaged trees, downed power lin |
| 01:33 UTC | TORNADO | 1 S South Barrington | Cook, IL | An NWS damage survey confirmed that an EF-0 tornado with estimated peak winds of 85 mph, a path length of 1.1 miles, and a maximum width of 105 yards impacted South Barrington, causing damage to trees and a tennis club. |
| 01:34 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 2 Ne Hanover Park | Cook, IL | NWS employee reported nickel sized hail in Schaumburg near Schaumburg Road and Springinsguth Road. Time estimated by radar. |
| 01:34 UTC | HAIL 1 | 1 Ssw Hoffman Estates | Cook, IL | Relayed via mPING. Time estimated by radar. |
| 01:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 W Schaumburg | Cook, IL | Tree downed near the Schaumburg post office. Time estimated from radar. |
| 01:38 UTC | HAIL 1 | 4 Ese Aurora | Dupage, IL | Estimated quarter size hail near Eola and Ogden. |
| 01:47 UTC | HAIL 1.5 | 3 N Plainfield | Will, IL | NWS employee reports hail up to 1.5 inch diameter in Plainfield. Time estimated by radar. |
| 01:49 UTC | TSTM WND GST 54 | 3 Se Batavia | Kane, IL | Private weather station KILAUROR58 reported 54 mph gust east of North Aurora. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2024 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of February 27, 2024
12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 27 | 5:56 PM CST | EF1 | Henry, IL | 2.8 | 425 | |||
| February 27 | 6:15 PM CST | EF0 | Lee, IL | 0.1 | 10 | |||
| February 27 | 6:53 PM CST | EF0 | DeKalb, IL | 5.4 | 175 | |||
| February 27 | 6:55 PM CST | EF0 | Kane, IL | 7.9 | 125 | |||
| February 27 | 7:06 PM CST | EF1 | Kane, IL | 8.1 | 125 | |||
| February 27 | 7:17 PM CST | EF1 | Kane, IL | 1.2 | 125 | |||
| February 27 | 7:29 PM CST | EF0 | Cook, IL | 3.8 | 300 | |||
| February 27 | 7:32 PM CST | EF1 | Cook, IL | 2.6 | 110 | |||
| February 27 | 7:34 PM CST | EF1 | Cook, IL | 2.5 | 160 | |||
| February 27 | 7:55 PM CST | EF1 | Lake, IL | 0.1 | 40 | 1 | ||
| February 27 | 9:15 PM CST | EF1 | Lake, IN | 2.2 | 75 | |||
| February 27 | 12:29 AM EST | EF1 | Calhoun, MI | 5.8 | 300 | $1.0 million |
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.