Rare January Tornado in Northern Illinois Monday Afternoon Rated EF3
Updated: January 9, 2008
A weather pattern more typical of early May than early January across northern Illinois brought severe weather to the area Monday afternoon. Originally two tornadoes were reported with these storms in Boone County and McHenry County along the Wisconsin border. On Tuesday, damage surveys conducted by National Weather Service personnel revealed one long continuous path from a single tornado. The tornado started at 3:30 PM about 1.2 miles north of Poplar Grove in Boone County and ended at 3:48 PM about 3.2 miles north-northeast of Harvard in McHenry County.
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THE TORNADO THEN MOVED ACROSS THE CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD WHERE IT BLEW 12 RAILROAD FREIGHT CARS OFF THE TRACK. THE TRAIN WAS MOVING AT THE TIME THE TORNADO HIT IT...SO AS THE MAIN ENGINE STOPPED...THE REMAINING CARS ON THE TRACK CONTINUED ALONG IT AND SLAMMED INTO THE FRONT PART OF THE TRAIN. THIS CAUSED A FEW MORE CARS TO DERAIL...INCLUDING ONE CONTAINING HAZARDOUS MATERIALS THAT CAUSED THE EVACUATION OF THE TOWN OF LAWRENCE. THE DAMAGE IN LAWRENCE WAS RATED AS EF2 WITH WINDS UP TO 110 MPH.
