Tornadoes in January? You ain't just Whistling Dixie!WBBM Chicago reported up to ten (10) possible tornadoes touched down between Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin!
The last time the area experienced tornadoes in January dates back to 1950. It certainly has been a day from records. Temp high 68 degrees!
Currently we have a flood watch until this afternoon.
(Photos taken by Valpo University student Aron Brackett)
chicagotribune.com
Rare tornadoes rake the area
Kenosha area gets worst of twisters
By Tara Malone, Andrew L. Wang and Jeff Long
Tribune staff reporters
11:31 PM CST, January 7, 2008
Monday in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, as tornadoes and high winds destroyed buildings, left scores of families homeless and derailed freight cars.
Funnel clouds—as rare of a January occurrence as people jogging along Lake Michigan in short sleeves—came as the downside of record-breaking warm weather across the area. With the date's previous high of 59 degrees shattered by 9:56 a.m. at O'Hare International Airport, winter-weary Chicagoans shed their heavy coats and ventured outside, when temperatures hit a high of 65.
A tornado watch went into effect at 2:35 p.m. and winds reached dangerous speeds. Lightning ended bike rides and playground visits in the city and suburbs, while darkening skies in parts of northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin introduced a storm so severe it derailed a freight train, forced an elementary school's lockdown and sent people fleeing for cover.
There were no reported fatalities or serious injuries.
In Kenosha County, authorities said about 100 people had been forced out of their homes, and a twister damaged at least 26 houses, including at least a half-dozen that were severely damaged or destroyed.
"So far I think it's rather miraculous" that injuries weren't worse, said Sgt. Gil Benn of the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department. "I can only venture a guess, but a forewarning from the sirens must have played a role in getting people into basements. That may have been a significant factor in saving lives."
The funnel clouds marked the Chicago area's first January tornado since the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began tracking in 1950.
Wisconsin had not experienced a January tornado since Jan. 24, 1967, when funnels touched down in Rock and Green Counties, as part of an eight-funnel-cloud storm system in Wisconsin and Illinois that killed one person and injured 21 others.
"It's unusual, but it does happen," said Greg Carbin, NOAA's warning coordination meteorologist.
Monday's storm tore through the southwest part of Kenosha County around 4 p.m., then headed northeast, causing damage in a swath about a quarter- to a half-mile wide. Trees were uprooted. Homes were destroyed or left without power. A Wheatland, Wis., elementary school was locked down when the sirens sounded during an after-school basketball game.
Many homes remained out of reach for emergency crews late Monday because of debris and downed power lines, Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth said.
"I have never, ever seen damage like this," he said. "We have homes in Kenosha County that have just been flattened. . . . To have this happen in January is just mind-boggling."
The American Red Cross and Salvation Army were on the scene to help those whose homes were destroyed.
Jason and Jodie Hammock were at a family funeral in nearby Paris, Wis., when their 11-year-old daughter, who was at their Wheatland house alone, called to say she heard a tornado warning. The couple sped home and pulled into their driveway when they saw the funnel cloud bearing down.
"It was just a huge white thing. And you can't even describe the sound," Jason Hammock said.
He rushed his wife and daughter into a basement crawl space. Jodie Hammock attempted to console the weeping girl as he stayed outside.
In the crawl space, the mother and daughter heard an enormous roar, followed by what sounded like a pop.
Then silence.
"I thought everything was fine," Jodie Hammock recalled. "Then Jason opened up the garage door and he was like, 'Oh, my God.' It was just like the movies. It was scary."
Much of the family's home was undamaged. But the roof of the garage collapsed on their vehicles and a patch of roof over the kitchen was gone. A 50-foot-tall oak tree was felled in their back yard.
Across the border near Poplar Grove in Boone County, Ill., apple orchard owners Barb and Ken Hall headed toward the basement after an employee called from the road to report he had just seen a twister barreling their way. The couple reached the cellar just as the funnel cloud roared across their property, heavily damaging their two-story home and destroying a neighbor's house across the road.
The tornado knocked down buildings at the orchard as well as their store, Barb Hall said. It also uprooted several stands of tall pine and oak trees on their property but spared most of the apple trees.
"Things were flying all over," she said. "If you go into the house, it looks like a bomb went off in there."
The strong winds also caused a potentially hazardous freight train derailment in McHenry County, leading police to evacuate a small town.
Authorities asked 500 Lawrence residents to vacate their homes as a precaution after several cars—including one tank containing flammable material—derailed.
The derailment, which occurred at about 4 p.m. in nearby Harvard, involved a Union Pacific locomotive and 12 cars.
A tank car containing ethylene oxide, a flammable liquid, had rolled onto its side but did not appear to have sprung any leaks, Davis said. Another tank car was carrying shock fluid.
The storms knocked out power across the area and, as of 7 p.m., about 11,000 Commonwealth Edison customers were without power across Illinois, with nearly 9,200 customers in the south suburbs, spokesman Luis Diaz-Perez said.
"The hardest hit areas appear to be Richton Park, Monee and Oak Forest," Diaz-Perez said.
(Photo's by Aron Brackett)
FROM THE CHICAGO SUN TIMES
BY NORMAN PARISH Staff Reporter/nparish@suntimes.com
Tornadoes severely damaged dozens of homes, a semi-truck and an electrical transformer in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin this afternoon, officials said.
Illinois State Police said they believe storms triggered a train derailment in McHenry County, causing nearly 200 people to be evacuated from 70 to 80 homes, said Sgt. Chris Melvin, of the state police.
In Kenosha County, tornadoes severely damaged nearly 50 houses, as well as an apartment complex, Kenosha County sheriff' officials said.
As of 8:30 p.m, there were no fatalities there but possibly some injuries after tornadoes struck the area just after 4 p.m., officials said. Dozens of families were displaced following the storms, officials added.
Near Poplar Grove in Boone County, three people suffered minor injuries when six or seven houses were severely damaged by tornadoes before 4 p.m., officials said. Some of the houses were "totally leveled," said Lt. Perry Gay of the Boone County sheriff's department.
A locomotive and seven train cars also derailed, Union Pacific officials said. It is unclear whether the derailment at about 4 p.m. just north of Harvard in McHenry County was because of storms, said Mark Davis, a spokesman for the railroad.
One car was carrying ethylene oxide - a flammable substance that is used to sterilize medical supplies. Officials don't believe there were any leaks in that car. But state police said the area was evacuated because they feared that when the car is removed, a leak could occur. Many residents were staying at Harvard High School.
One car carrying hydraulic fluid was leaking, Davis acknowledged.
The train was heading from North Lake to Janesville, Wis. No one was hurt during the incident, he said.
Also north of Harvard, tornadoes flipped over a semi-truck and damaged an electrical transformer. Officials said they didn't know of any injuries.
Fire departments from across Lake County (Ill.) responded to a "disaster box" call to assist in rescue efforts following the tornadoes that swept southeast Wisconsin.
Fire Marshal Steve Lenzi of the Waukegan Fire Department said crews from as far south as Lincolnshire responded to the call that was sent out at about 5:15 p.m. by the Kenosha Fire Department.
"This is the first one I can recall since the flood down in Chicago back in 1992," Lenzi said. " ... As I understand it, a lot of Kenosha's resources were sent out to Wheatland, so they needed assistance to cover Kenosha."
At Kenosha's request, Waukegan sent its heavy rescue squad, which Lenzi described as "a huge toolbox" for responding to structural collapses, trench cave-ins and hazardous material spills. A field command center was set up near Interstate 94 and Route 50.
Waukegan also sent a haz-mat technician to assist in Harvard, site of the McHenry County train derailment.
Contributing: Dan Moran, News Sun
Rare January Tornadoes Produce Heavy Damage in Northern Illinois Monday Afternoon
January 7, 2008
A weather pattern more typical of early May than early January across northern Illinois brought severe weather to the area Monday afternoon. Two tornadoes were reported with these storms in counties along the Wisconsin border. The tornadoes were north of Poplar Grove in Boone County and north of Harvard in McHenry County.
The National Weather Service has tornado records dating back to 1950. In this 58 year period of record, only one other tornado has ever been documented anywhere in north central or northeast Illinois in the month of January. That tornado occurred on January 25, 1950 at Momence in Kankakee County. It was rated F2 on the Fujita scale. It was a day similar to Monday with temperatures in the middle 60s. In fact, Chicago set the all time record high for the month of January, with a temperature of 67 degrees, on that date.
National Weather Service survey crews will be mapping the damage paths during the day on Tuesday and determining more information about these tornadoes, including path length, path width, and severity on the Enhanced-Fujita (EF) Scale.
Preliminary Local Storm Reports
0335 PM TORNADO POPLAR GROVE 42.37N 88.82W
01/07/2008 BOONE IL EMERGENCY MNGR
TWO HOUSES WITH MAJOR DAMAGE.
0335 PM TORNADO POPLAR GROVE 42.37N 88.82W
01/07/2008 BOONE IL TRAINED SPOTTER
WIND DAMAGE REPORTED NEAR 7061 CENTERVILLE RD. NORTH OF
POPLAR GROVE.
0335 PM TORNADO POPLAR GROVE 42.37N 88.82W
01/07/2008 BOONE IL TRAINED SPOTTER
TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN. A BARN AND APPLE ORCHARD
DAMAGED.
0335 PM TORNADO POPLAR GROVE 42.37N 88.82W
01/07/2008 BOONE IL TRAINED SPOTTER
TORNADO REPORTED ON THE GROUND.
0340 PM TORNADO POPLAR GROVE 42.37N 88.82W
01/07/2008 BOONE IL LAW ENFORCEMENT
PRELIMINARY PATH LENGTH OF 3 MILES.
0353 PM TORNADO N HARVARD 42.42N 88.62W
01/07/2008 MCHENRY IL BROADCAST MEDIA
HOUSE DAMAGED AND TRAIN TURNED OVER.
0353 PM TORNADO N HARVARD 42.42N 88.62W
01/07/2008 MCHENRY IL TRAINED SPOTTER
TORNADO REPORTED NORTH OF HARVARD CROSSING ROUTE 14. SEMI
TURNED OVER AND TRANSFORMER DOWN.
Evolution of Storm on NWS Doppler Radar
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