EF3 Tornado — Boone, Illinois

2008-01-07 · near Poplar Grove, Boone, Illinois

Event narrative

A tornado touched down at 330 pm CST about 1.2 miles north of Poplar Grove in Boone County and ended at 348 pm about 3.2 miles north northeast of Harvard in McHenry County. The tornado crossed the Boone McHenry County line near Hunter Road, about 3 miles northeast of Capron. The first signs of damage were at Quail Trap Road just east of Poplar Grove Road where trees were damaged and sections of roofing were removed from a shed. The tornado intensified to EF2 intensity at Edwards Apple Orchard on Centerville Road. A large barn was destroyed and other buildings were severely damaged. Large trees were snapped or uprooted. The tornado reached its maximum intensity of EF3 at the northeast corner of Centerville Road and Beaverton Road. A two story farm house and garage were leveled and large trees were stripped of all branches. The tornado was about 100 yards wide through this area. The tornado continued east northeast across Stimes Road and eventually crossed the Boone McHenry County line near Hunter Road. Most of the damage through this part of the tornado path was EF1, though it weakened to EF0 near the county line. There was damage to trees, power lines, barns and sheds. A few farm houses had shingles or small sections of roof damaged. Four injuries were reported.

Wider weather episode

Severe thunderstorms developed ahead of a strong cold front across northern Illinois during the afternoon hours of January 7th. The storms moved southeast across east central Illinois during the early to mid evening hours.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.3828, -88.8218)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 73813. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.