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EF1 tornado in Cook County, Illinois

Tornado June 7, 2008 · Cook County, Illinois

EF1
Rating
2.0 mi
Path length
75 yd
Path width
$1.0M
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 75 yards (0.04 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A tornado touched down in South Chicago Heights in the Schubert's Woods Forest Preserve just north of Sauk Trail and west of Forest Preserve Drive. This tornado then tracked northeast across the forest, eventually emerging from the forest near Euclid and west 26th Streets. At this location, large trees were uprooted and portions of a roof were lifted off a large warehouse building. The tornado continued northeast across residential areas north of 26th Street and west of Chicago Road. In this neighborhood, several homes sustained minor damage with two houses sustaining significant damage from large trees falling onto the homes. The tornado continued northeast across Chicago Road eventually lifting near 16th Street and Center Street. Damage to trees was noted all along the path including several large uprooted or snapped in half.

The wider storm

A single supercell thunderstorm developed over western Illinois and moved northeast reaching Lake Michigan near the Illinois Indiana state line several hours later. This single thunderstorm produced eight different tornadoes as it moved east across Illinois.

Began near Park Forest (41.4828, -87.6573).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

6 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 105579. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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