EF2 tornado, Willow Springs to (Mdw) Chicago Midway Airport, Illinois, June 11, 2026

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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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, as surveyed

EF2, preliminary

Date

June 11, 2026

Touchdown

8:15 PM CDT (01:15 UTC)

Lifted

8:22 PM CDT (01:22 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

8.3 miles (13.4 km)

Path width

350 yards (320 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

6

County

Cook County

Touchdown point

41.719, -87.864

Lift-off point

41.799, -87.751

Highest wind the damage implies

120 mph

Surveyed by

NWS LOT

The office's name for it

Hickory Hills - Garfield Ridge

Survey last edited

July 6, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

An EF-2 tornado with peak winds of around 120 mph, a path length of around 8.4 miles, and a maximum width of 350 yards began in the Spears-Pioneer Woods Forest Preserve north of 95th St. and continued northeast into northern Hickory Hills, where tree damage and some light pole damage occurred. The tornado strengthened in intensity to EF-2 level on the southeast side of Justice, where two apartments had roofs fully removed near 83rd St. and Roberts Rd. The tornado maintained EF-2 strength into Bridgeview, where additional roof damage was noted near 79th St. and Oketo Ave. The tornado then weakened as it moved into the Clearing and Garfield Ridge community areas of Chicago west of Midway Airport, where tree, shingle, roof, and siding damage occurred. The tornado lifted north of Midway Airport around 52nd St. and Leamington Ave. after producing additional tree damage.

Written by NWS LOT in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

64 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LOT, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 120 mph.

• Smaller branches here, blown toward the northeast.
• Large softwood trees uprooted and snapped midway up. Damage was clearly convergent with one uprooted tree pointing almost due north and damage across the street pointing almost due south. There was no clear damage to nearby apartment buildings. This appeared to be the maximum width of the tornado, around 150 yards or so.
• Tree snapped, pointing NE. Lots of small branches down in vicinity of area, as well.
• Lots of small branches down

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

Severe thunderstorms moved across northern Illinois during the afternoon and evening of June 11th producing wind damage, localized flooding and several tornadoes.

A tornado with estimated peak winds of 120 mph touched down in the Spears-Pioneer Woods Forest Preserve just north of 95th Street damaging trees. The tornado moved northeast causing damage to trees, utility poles and minor roof damage across northern Hickory Hills. The tornado crossed Interstate 294 and strengthened on the southeast side of Justice were two apartments had roofs fully removed near 83rd Street and Roberts Road. Six injuries occurred on the top floor of one of these apartment buildings. Another roof was removed from an apartment building near 79th Street and Oketo Avenue. Numerous other roofs suffered at least minor damage. Damage to trees and utility poles continued. The tornado was likely near its maximum width of 350 yards as it moved through this area of Bridgeview. The tornado weakened as it moved through the Clearing and Garfield areas of Chicago, though damage to roofs, siding and trees continued. The tornado then moved northeast, just north of Midway Airport while it continued to cause tree damage and minor roof damage to houses. The tornado ended near Leamington Avenue, just north of 52nd Street.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:02 UTC and running to 02:00 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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 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), 29 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:13 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 2026 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

65 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

All 66 of them

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.