EF0 tornado, Broadview to West Town, Illinois, July 15, 2024

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 15, 2024

Touchdown

9:34 PM CDT (02:34 UTC)

Lifted

9:42 PM CDT (02:42 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

4.1 miles (6.6 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

DuPage and Cook counties

Touchdown point

41.955, -87.938

Lift-off point

41.983, -87.871

Record number

2407152034-01

330 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 94 mph.

• unhealthy but laying different direction
• Siding blown in facing east
• rush hospital park to west trees uprooted branches different dirs
• Skirting blown in facing north

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

A derecho moved across northern Illinois during the evening of July 15th producing widespread wind damage and 30 tornadoes in northeast Illinois. One of these tornadoes crossed into northwest Indiana. At the height of the storms, 430,000 customers lost power with some power not restored for four days, on July 19th.

A tornado with estimated peak winds of 85 mph touched down near Roosevelt Road and Bristol Avenue and moved east northeast. Surveillance video showed roof, siding and window damage occurring to a warehouse building on Gardener Road, just north of Roosevelt Road. The tornado continued east peeling off portions of the roofs of three apartment buildings along 25th Avenue, north of Roosevelt Road and depositing the roofing material into an adjacent alley. A garage partially collapsed on 25th Avenue. The tornado then produced only tree damage before it ended near 12th Street between Harvard Street and Fillmore Street.

A tornado with estimated peak winds of 80 mph touched down just southwest of O'Hare Airport in DuPage County then continued moving east northeast across O'Hare Airport after crossing into Cook County. While the tornado was moving across the airport, windows, doors and exterior paneling and roofing of multiple terminals and gates were damaged. Carts and loose objects were also pushed around or thrown. The tornado continued moving east near Interstate 190 where at least one tree was blown down. The tornado ended just west of Interstate 294.

A tornado with estimated peak winds of 90 mph touched down near the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal immediately north of Interstate 294. It moved across a mobile home park where it caused damage to trees and homes north of Park Avenue. The tornado crossed Garden Lane where several large, healthy trees were either uprooted or snapped. Minor shingle, siding and fascia damage to homes also occurred. A greenhouse was blown about 75 feet to the north. The tornado was likely at peak intensity in this area. The tornado continued through a cemetery and broadened considerably as it ended east of Roberts Road near 74th Place.

A tornado with estimated peak winds of 95 mph touched down just south of Interstate 290 near Francisco Avenue and moved east, until it turned northeast and crossed Interstate 290 between Damen Avenue and Ashland Avenue. Tree damage occurred along the path of the tornado. Minor roof damage occurred to a building on Flournoy Street. More extensive tree damage including healthy trees uprooted occurred near Rush and Stroger Hospitals. After crossing Interstate 290, the tornado turned east near Skinner Park where the most significant damage occurred. Numerous large healthy trees were uprooted, one falling on a fence. Roof damage occurred to a building in Skinner Park and the Chicago Police Academy building sustained minor fascia damage. The tornado was likely at peak intensity in this area. The tornado continued producing tree damage, crossed Interstate 90/94 and then ended before reaching the Chicago River.

A tornado with estimated peak winds of 85 mph touched down near Sacramento Boulevard and Grand Avenue. Damage along the path of the tornado consisted of uprooted and snapped trees, tree limbs blown down, utility poles damaged and a few windows blown out of homes. Minor damage to roofs and siding also occurred. Photos shared on social media showed a large tree that was uprooted and fell onto the roof of car on Superior Street between Western Avenue and Rockwell Street. The tornado ended near Huron Street and Damen Avenue.

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

24 minutes of warning. NWS LOT issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:10 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:34 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:53 UTC and running to 03:20 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:47 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.

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 43 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:34 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 2024 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

61 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 62 of them

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.