EF1 tornado, Maple Park to Marywood, Illinois, July 15, 2024

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

July 15, 2024

Touchdown

8:49 PM CDT (01:49 UTC)

Lifted

9:00 PM CDT (02:00 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

8.4 miles (13.5 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Kane County

Touchdown point

41.756, -88.517

Lift-off point

41.777, -88.357

Record number

2407151949-01

279 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LOT, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EFU. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

• Near probable start point in Yorkville
• Bristol, tree debris facing SE
• Trees cut down due to damage
• Narrow convergent path of tree damage

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.

High resolution satellite imagery showed a tornado which began in De Kalb County and crossed into Kane County just south of the intersection of County Line Road and Pleasant Street, produced only crop damage. The tornado ended in a field east of County Line Road and south of Union Ditch 3. Since the only known damage from this tornado was to crops, it was assigned the EF-U (unknown) rating.

A tornado with estimated peak winds of 95 mph touched down just inside the entrance to the Big Rock Campground near Granart Road. Extensive, primarily EF-0, tree damage occurred along the path of this tornado. The tornado was likely at peak intensity as it moved through Sugar Grove, just south of Route 30. Several homes had minor roof damage near Ridgeview Lane. Several healthy trees were uprooted and snapped. The tornado passed over the Sugar Grove Fire Department building near Municipal Drive which suffered minor structural damage, some of which appeared to be caused by flying tree debris. An approximately 2,000 pound partial roof for firefighter training was lifted and moved a couple of feet. Additional minor structural damage occurred at some residences in nearby subdivisions. The tornado continued moving east northeast, crossing Route 56 twice, before moving into the west side of Aurora. The tornado crossed Route 83 where it produced sporadic shingle and fascia damage along with continued tree damage. Several fences were also blown down. The tornado appeared to end just east of Edgelawn Drive.

A tornado with estimated peak winds of 85 mph touched down west of Esker Road, just north of the Aurora Municipal Airport and moved northeast crossing Route 47 onto the campus of Waubonsee Community College where several trees and trees limbs were snapped and blown down. The tornado then moved through a subdivision just south of Interstate 88 where it produced sporadic minor roof damage to some homes and continued producing tree damage including uprooted and some snapped trees. Utility poles were also damaged. The tornado crossed Interstate 88 then crossed Route 83 where it produced tree damage and minor fascia damage to some homes between Oak Street and Interstate 88. Minor damage was reported to houses and to cars from the fallen tree limbs. Power lines were also blown down in this area. The tornado crossed the Fox River and continued to produce sporadic tree damage until it ended near Interstate 88 and Farnsworth Avenue.

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

18 minutes of warning. NWS LOT issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:31 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:55 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.

Chicago/Aurora (ARR), 4 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 34 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:50 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.