Tornado warning

[hbarcat]

I was just about to leave work and heard the village tornado alarms going off. This is northern illinois, far west Chicago suburbs.

Checked the weather service and there's a funnel cloud just a few miles west and headed this way. Watching the radar weather map, it's on the south edge of a severe storm system.

I'm now driving south and am currently clear of the path. Planning on waiting it out until the system passes by.

Unfortunately, the path of the most severe weather goes right over my house.

I just love summer in the midwest.

 

[hbarcat]

Confirmed tornado touched down near the town of Malta, 10 miles from my daughter.

Power just went out at my folks house near the town of Sycamore.

And now another tornado confirmed touched down 2 miles north of the village of Elburn, where I left work 10 minutes ago.

Lightning just hit a tree about a block away from the parking lot I'm sitting in.



I don't like this.

 

[hbarcat]

Neat.

DeKalb. 6:12

 

[Michael Jewels]

Don't go chasing any of them, hbarcat!

Stay safe.

Mike

 

[fdeck]

Still here?

Toto?

 

[hbarcat]

Home again, but there's tree branches down in places and a few fields with areas of flattened corn stalks.

The power just came back on. Talked on the phone to a few loved ones and they're all okay.


This happens about once a year, on average, where we get actual tornados touching down close by, and it frightens everyone. There's always some random damages, but deaths are really rare.

 

[ShawnG]

I live in North Texas, mid-March - mid-June is our tornado season. Glad to have it behind us (until next spring…).
I grew up in the Midwest (Ohio). Said to my wife the other day, “can we find a place when we retire that doesn’t have severe weather, that would be a nice change of pace.”

 

[fdeck]

I saw some flattened portions of corn fields on my bike ride last weekend, and lots of downed trees. I wondered if a tornado had hit.

 

[hbarcat]

There were 7 tornadoes that caused significant damage, but no serious injuries or death.

Their path took them within 5 miles of quite a few of my family members and friends.

From NBC News Chicago:

‘Large and Extremely Dangerous' Tornado One of Several Reported in DeKalb, Kane Counties


This video is of the tornado that passed about 8 miles south of my house.

Video Shows Tornado Moving Through Sycamore


A few minutes later, another tornado passed about 6 miles north of my house.

 

[Corigan]

I lived out there when plainfield hit. F5. I remember one day I saw 5 on the ground at the same time. When the sky goes emerald green, you know its about to get serious.

Glad you are ok.

 

[Gothic]

What's mind boggling to me about the US is the fact that you still build your houses out of wood, especially in tornado plagued areas. I can understand it's probably a price thing but still...

Oh well, I hope no more disasters come your way OP. Be well.

 

[MonetBass]

Tornado alley seems to have shifted north of us. Usually in Oklahoma in the spring and summer, we have had many tornadoes by now. But we've only had one or two in our area, which is very odd. Glad you're safe!

 

[DirtDog]

We had a couple blow through here recently (45N). Always get a couple within a 100 mile radius each year. A few years back we had one tornado rip apart a hydro substation. Power was off for half the city for the better part of three days. And on the other side of town the same day, the same system (different tornado, though) blew apart about 25 houses in a small village (not a trailer park).

This year, one blew though a friend’s property and ripped out trees on one side of the property yet left the seat cushions on the patio chairs 100’ away.

Then six months from now we’ll have snow and ice storms that can demolish infrastructure. Yay! At least those two nice weeks in the fall make up for it!

 

[hbarcat]

Back in 2015, a more powerful tornado passed just to the north of my home city of Rochelle and did an enormous amount of damage and killed 1 person.

It destroyed a restaurant, but all 14 people inside sheltered on the basement and were unharmed.

Link Removed

 

[roller]

Glad you're okay, homie!

There were 7 tornadoes that caused significant damage, but no serious injuries or death.

 

[hbarcat]

This was my backyard after the storm.

 

[Ostie]

Severe storms across MI last night. Mostly straight line winds but heavy damage and power outages. More expected tonight.

 

[two fingers]

I live in North Texas, mid-March - mid-June is our tornado season. Glad to have it behind us (until next spring…).
I grew up in the Midwest (Ohio). Said to my wife the other day, “can we find a place when we retire that doesn’t have severe weather, that would be a nice change of pace.”

No such place exists that I know of. It's just the lesser of evils (depending on what YOU call "lesser").

To me, living in a desert is extreme weather. Living in Maine is extreme weather (in the winter). Living in the Mid Atlantic we see it all..... ice, drought, heat/humidity, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, etc.

I can't think of anywhere (particularly in the states) that doesn't get SOME form of extreme weather from time to time.

 

[two fingers]

@hbarcat glad you and yours are OK!

Tornadoes are Mrs.Fingers' cryptonite (sp). She loses her mind when they are nearby. There's a bit of an alley that gets most of the severe thunderstorms and tornadoes that runs about 8-10 miles south of us. I can't tell you how many times I have stood on my front porch (which faces due south) and watched a CRAZY amount of lightening happening in or near a small town just south of us. It's pretty remarkable how often storms follow that track. Usually it's sunny and just a little breezy on my porch when it's happening too. I need to record the dates for a while. It would he some interesting data.

 

[JRA]

This was my backyard after the storm.

yikes! could have been a lot worse --- glad it wasn't ---