6/22/2015 Woodhaven Lakes EF2 Tornado

Monday was what I would consider a climatological pattern for tornadoes across eastern IA, northern IL, and southern Michigan.  As is often the case with these setups, ongoing thunderstorms in the morning 'muddied' up the forecast (things were not clear even by mid-afternoon!), but severe thunderstorms eventually developed across the risk area by early evening. We targeted the DVN area, then slid a tad north a strengthening storm west of Clinton, IA. This storm morphed into a strong supercell after crossing the MS river, but poor visibility made identifying the storm structure difficult.  This storm continued to grow into a large high-precipitation (HP) supercell before diving southeast across north-central IL and producing numerous tornadoes.  We had several great views into the notch, but really could only confirm one touchdown of a tornado.  We bailed on the storm near Mendota, IL as it was becoming dark/dangerous.

We (Matt Piechota and I) came back out to the hard hit Woodhaven Lakes area on the 23rd to conduct a storm survey on behalf of the National Weather Service in Chicago. We found several areas of EF2 damage in Woodhaven Lakes.  Thankfully, only minor injuries and no fatalities were recorded here (likely because it was not a weekend).  This was an extremely vulnerable campground area, and we found many campers crushed by large pine trees.  Many of the residents again commented that the WEA cellphone warnings from the NWS helped alert them (with ample time) to the pending tornado.  I consider this another huge success story for the region.  

Survey Summary:

.TORNADO #5: WOODHAVEN LAKES/SUBLETTE TORNADO

RATING:                 EF-2
PEAK WIND:              130 MPH
PATH LENGTH:            7.8 MILES
PATH WIDTH MAXIMUM:     ONE HALF MILE
FATALITIES:             0
INJURIES:               7

START DATE:             JUN 22 2015
START TIME:             753 PM CDT
START LOCATION:         4.0 MILES SOUTH OF AMBOY IL
START LAT/LON:          41.6565 / -89.3213

END DATE:               JUN 22 2015
END TIME:               811 PM CDT
END LOCATION:           3.4 MILES SOUTHEAST OF SUBLETTE IL
END LAT/LON:            41.6044 / -89.1874

SURVEY SUMMARY: VERY SIGNIFICANT TREE DAMAGE...WITH MANY LARGE
TREES SNAPPED OR UPROOTED IN WOODHAVEN LAKES CAMPING RESORT AREA.
SEVERAL OF THESE FELL ON RECREATIONAL VEHICLES.

NOTES: THIS WAS THE STRONGEST TORNADO DAMAGE RATING WITHIN LEE
COUNTY ITSELF SINCE AN F2 TORNADO ON JULY 8 1993. THE THREE
TORNADOES IN LEE COUNTY WERE THE MOST IN ONE CALENDAR DAY IN THE
TORNADO PERIOD OF RECORD /SINCE 1950/.

GENSINI/PIECHOTA

Late morning tornado outlook and associated verification from the SPC

200 image RADAR loop from KDVN

Looking west near Sterling, IL

Select damage pictures from Woodhaven Lakes:

Talking with Gov. Rauner following the damage survey