High Wind — Northern Cook County, Illinois

2024-05-21 to 2024-05-22 · Northern Cook County, Illinois

Event narrative

Trees and power lines were blown down in Des Plaines and a tree was blown down blocking a road in Wilmette.

Wider weather episode

Scattered thunderstorms moved across parts of northwest Illinois during the evening of May 21st producing scattered wind damage.

High winds developed across northern Illinois during the evening of May 21st and continued into the early morning of May 22nd also producing wind damage, widespread in some areas. In Kane County, multiple tree limbs were blown down in Aurora; a tree limb was blown down blocking a roadway near Burlington; tree limbs were blown down along Wabash Avenue and Army Trail Road near St. Charles; and in Elgin, a tree was blown down onto a car damaging the windshield and another tree was blown down and fell onto two people. Both were transported to a hospital with non critical injuries.

In Lake County, a utility pole was leaning near the Des Plaines River and Oak Spring Road near Libertyville and a large tree was blown down at Adler Park School in Libertyville. Other power line damage was reported in Indian Creek and North Chicago. A tree was blown down onto a house causing structural damage in Round Lake Beach. Nearby power lines were also damaged.

In Ford County, A large tree limb was blown down onto a structure in Gibson City. Power outages were also reported. In Winnebago County, A photo showed a large portion of a tree that was blown down onto a house near Lincliff Drive and Samuelson Road in Cherry Valley. In DuPage County, a large tree was blown down onto a road and power lines were blown down in Warrenville. Widespread tree damage including uprooted trees along with power outages were reported across all of Iroquois County.

In Cook County, small trees were blown down and small tree limbs were broken and scattered in a street near Arlington Heights; Utility poles were blown down west of Barlett; Trees and power lines were blown down in Des Plaines and a tree was blown down blocking a road in Wilmette.

Numerous trees, tree limbs and power lines were blown down in Chicago, with over 1,900 reports of tree emergencies. Some of the reports included a tree that fell onto two cars in the Gold Coast neighborhood; A large tree limb that fell onto a car on West School Street in Roscoe Village; Widespread tree damage was reported across the Big Oaks area of Chicago east of Harlem and Foster; Widespread tree limbs were blown down across the Irving Park neighborhood; A tree was blown down in Lakeview and a tree limb was blown down on the Yellow Line tracks near the Dempster-Skokie stop, at one point, suspending services.

Peak high wind gusts included 62 mph east of Beaverville in Iroquois County; 62 mph west of Pontiac in Livingston County; 62 mph at the Aurora Municipal Airport in Kane County; 61 mph north of Piper City in Ford County; 60 mph southwest of Milford in Iroquois County; 58 mph in near Clifton in Iroquois County; 58 mph at Chicago O'Hare Airport and 58 mph near Woodstock in McHenry County. Wind gusts between 50 and 55 mph occurred across many locations in northern Illinois.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1178369. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.