EF1 Tornado — Boone, Illinois

2023-03-31 · near Irene, Boone, Illinois

Event narrative

This tornado crossed into Boone County south of Cherry Valley from Winnebago County. The tornado, which originated in Ogle County, traversed northeastward doing minor damage to farms. As it moved through the town of Belvidere, the storm produced multiple instances of damage to businesses, homes, and trees. Included in this is the partial roof collapse of the Apollo Theatre downtown which resulted in one fatality and 40 injuries. From there, the tornado would travel another 7 miles doing additional damage to trees before lifting near Orth Rd just west of the Boone-McHenry county line.

Wider weather episode

During the afternoon and evening of the 31st, a wave of severe thunderstorms produced numerous tornadoes, severe hail, extensive wind damage, and localized flooding across northern and northeastern Illinois. A total of 37 tornadoes were confirmed across the state. The NWS Chicago office tied a record for the most tornadoes to occur in a single calendar day within the office's county warning area with 22, 17 of which occurred in Illinois. One EF-2 tornado occurred in south-central Lee County and two others in northwest Indiana. Some of the more notable damage includes multiple semi trucks blown over, a garage that had been completely destroyed southeast of Amboy, and the partial roof collapse of the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere which unfortunately resulted in one fatality and 40 injuries.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.1924, -88.9400)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1085836. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.