CHICAGO, The Unknown Tornado Magnet 

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“The tornado hit my childhood friends home, but more importantly it almost hit my favorite burrito place” got me dying💀

Anyone else coming to this video after the 10+ tornadoes that just hit tonight?

His mom saying "No this is cool!" in reference to getting in the basement makes me realize where he got his attitude towards tornadoes from.

Watching this right after a tornado warning in Chicago 😅

HAHAHAAAA we did it fellow chicagoans!!!!!!! We survived the 10+ tornadoes that cbs said were active at the same time

I am so glad someone is talking about this! I get so frustrated and confused when there is severe weather and tornadoes in the Chicagoland area and people act shocked and surprised that it happened. People need to realize that the Chicagoland area is very prone to severe weather, particularly tornadoes, on the same level as more recognized metro areas. Just because a tornado hasn’t hit your town, or even the town next to you in your lifetime doesn’t mean that they are rare, or that it hasn’t happened before you were born. Chicagoland needs to wake up and take ALL severe weather warnings seriously.

The fact that the 1967 Oak Lawn tornado impacted a cementary while being the deadliest tornado in the Chicago area is ironic.

Trying to imagine my face after seeing Twister in 96 and then being told that in 2024 I'd be watching a pube trimming ad amidst an independently made tornado documentary on a platform like RU-vid. What a time to be alive

It's well known in Chicago that Joliet is NOT where you want to be during severe weather! I was 11 years old when the 1976 Lemont tornado hit. My Mom was driving me and my 7 year old sister, from a carnival in Chicago, back home to Darien. We went through torrential rain driving south on the Stevenson Expressway. As we topped a hill and approached County Line Road, the rain stopped and the sky in front of us was that horrible green color. My Mom took the ramp for County Line north, and I was old enough to know that wasn't our exit. As we were on the ramp, the radio announcer said there might be a tornado in Burr Ridge, by County Line Road. It didn't get that far, but we were literally driving straight at it. That was good for years of nightmares.

Crazy you post this video, and then 6 days later, a derecho passes through Chicago with several spin-up tornadoes likely hitting the city (I counted 5 different areas of defined rotation on TMDW radar just within the city of Chicago at about 9:50 PM CDT, with several others in the suburbs). The timing! Of course, the setup was nothing close to some of these...but still, a heck of a coincidence. On the topic of Chicago tornadoes...my parents both have told me of several tornado stories from around the Chicago area...the 1965 Palm Sunday outbreak and the '67 Oak Lawn tornado feature heavily in their stories... My dad was out and about, saw the tornado, decided to stop in a bar for shelter (and, presumably, a drink or two), and when he came out, every vehicle in the parking lot had been flipped over.

This aged great

I am here in Chicago. I heard Tom Skilling say some years back...that Chicago is LONG overdue for a BIG tornado to come through here.

6 days later... Chicago is getting hit by a tornado rn

I live 30 or so minutes north of Chicago and I did in fact pick up on the fact that since 2020, there had been a noticeable uptick in tornadoes hitting in and around the area. I noticed we have been getting more frequent tornado warnings every summer, having two nearly hitting where I live in just this past year. On the July 12th, 2023 outbreak, an EF0 passed to my south in Long Grove, I even got video of the storm moving east from my balcony and the second was from the February 27th, 2024 outbreak, where an EF1 ripped the roof off of an apartment building just a couple miles north of where I live. That tornado passed just to our west along route 83 and I remember my dad and out on the balcony watching the storm. I remember feeling how cold the air was from the RFD surge. That was such an insane night!

I actually moved to Naperville a week after Plainfield. We lived in an apartment complex right off 88 and Rt. 59. Not long after moving in, we had a EF1 tornado that hit right by us. Ended up hitting Fox Valley Mall. I remember seeing our sliding glass door literally jumping up and down, and rain coming underneath it. Scary stuff. Now I live in Englewood Ohio. The eventual EF4 Memorial Day Tornado went down Westbrook Road about half a mile away from my house. It was only EF3 then. 😂 I was actually in the US Air Force as a weather observer. I’m just a weather magnet. I am just grateful that, while I have been close to some severe weather, I have never been struck by it… great video!

It's kind of weird how a lot of Chicagolands most infamous tornadoes come from strange weather set ups

I was only 4 when the Plainfield tornado hit, but I know the stories of it. My bro and his best friend had just started to leave school to walk home when the storm that produced the tornado went over Hinckley, and the winds were so strong that they nearly sucked my bro and his best friend out of the school's doors. My mom was at work in Plano when it passed over them. She and her boss went outside to watch it and she said it looked like a giant green steamroller just rolling overhead and sounded absolutely horrifying. She and her boss both looked at each other and were like, "Is that...? Nah, can't be. We would have gotten a warning or something." And then she got home from work and heard Plainfield had been hit and realized how lucky she'd been.

This video showed up on my timeline the same day there were several tornado warnings in Chicago and a large tornado near O’Hare

Great video once again man. I never knew Chicago was such a tornado magnet!

As a resident of a far chicago suburb, the last two days have been intresting to say the least

My Mom watched it, always told me how green the sky was, that story saved me years later, was driving up to Chicago around Louisville, and the sky turned green, I stopped at the next exit got under a manual car wash as I was in a Mustang convertible, as soon as I did the sky went black as night, after it passed I drove to the next exit, every car at the truck stop looked like someone took a sledgehammer to it, softball size hail and tornado passed nearby. TL;DR You see a green sky, get to a safe place. Hope the tornado breakout tonight wasn't as bad in Chicago 7/15/24 found this video looking for damage reports on the storm, as it was in the area. Hope you and yours are safe, great video.

as someone from Chicago, just a few years ago we had large supercell go right over the loop, I think it was the closest we've ever had to a genuine downtown tornado scenario, because it had rotation and everything but it floated over and went farther east over the lake before it could produce anything

Dad finally came back with the milk!

Chris, I do not know if you will ever see this comment but please look at what happened last night in the Chicagoland area. There were multiple tornadoes that potentially dropped down - at O’Hare Airport, Midway Airport, Homer Glen, Frankfort, etc.

This is so ironic, considering our area had a huge outbreak the last two days with 17 tornadoes and counting (surveys are still ongoing).

Yup. I was born in 1961 and grew up outside of Chicago. I remember a grade-school teacher of mine talking about the 1967 outbreak. He had lived in Belvidere IL where school kids were just being let out right as an F4 hit. He showed us pictures of the damage and they really made a big impression on me. Twice in my childhood I remember the skies going green and mom taking us down into the basement. I didn't leave the Chicagoland area until the early 80's so many of the storms mentioned here are etched into my own memories, but it's nice to see it all detailed out like this. Thanks!

As a native Chicagoan the spring is scary here. We had 11 yesterday and the day before that 6. Terrifying. Illinois has had the most tornados a year recently.

My father actually witnessed the Plainfield F5 from his childhood home in Oswego. Sadly he doesn’t have footage of it but he does remember how dark it was. Greetings from Plainfield Il!

This aged well, This area just got hit by a strong storm with 11+ tornados touching down

We experienced another tornado outbreak last night here in Chicagoland. There was damage 4 miles from my house, I was worried all day yesterday because the weather reminded me so much of the weather on August 28th 1990. One of my brothers was in Plainfield that day when the tornado struck and the building he was in collapsed. Fortunately he managed to get under a desk and it saved him! My other brother was on the road and watched in horror as the tornado ripped apart the building with our brother in it. It was horrible waiting to hear if they were both ok! The time moves very slowly when you’re waiting to hear news like that. I also remember the Lemont tornado, we found debris scattered around our neighborhood afterwards.

Crazy how we had one of our largest outbreaks a week after this video was posted

It’s so cool seeing someone finally talk about this place I live in the Chicago suburbs and the amount of severe weather we get every year is crazy

I live in the Chicago area. Tornadoes are somewhat rare, but they happen. I live 20 min away from the 2021 EF3 and went to take pictures. I never saw tornado damage before in my life like this one

The lake aspect is wild, I swear anytime a nice looking cell enters Chicago it splits😭😭

This ironic considered we just got hit by a derecho 💀

I remember the Woodridge tornado like it was yesterday. My house was so close to the tornado that the house was shaking like we were in a earthquake

I had a teacher that was in the oak lawn high school when it got hit. People dont realize chicago is it's own tornado little alley

Ironic how 6 days later a tornado outbreak happens in Chicago

The Oak Lawn Public Library actually has a cool little exhibit room for the 1967 tornado. Check it out if you're ever over there!

Timing could not be better with all the warnings last night

Hi Chris, I do work at the Plainfield Historic Society and loved your video, if you’re ever in the area I’d love to have you, we have photos of the tornado in the vault as well I believe

The animation of the tornado over the grocery store on Cicero was a great touch! My dad telling me about this storm is how I got interested in tornadoes & weather in general. I live in the subdivision 91st & Oak Park in my dad's childhood home my grandma had to scream at my dad to get him to come in the house and she shoved the kids in the crawlspace. My grandfather was coming home from work from the north & pulled around a police barricade because the cop wasn't going to let him go check on my grandma & three young kids. The subdivision was build 1957-1958 so there were still barely any trees in 1967 as it used to be the south field of the Harlem Airport so they had a crazy view looking south at the tornado. My dad is the same age as your mum. My uncles childhood home is just northwest of the highschool it barely missed his house. 5 houses down was where a line of houses that collapsed started.

In 1967, my mom lived in Oak Lawn and the tornado there missed her by 2 blocks (she said it was raining debris). On the same day, my dad's childhood home in Lake Zurich was destroyed.

With Tornado Alley moving eastward and climate change this worries me. Especially since we had the F2 - F3 Naperville - Willowbrook tornado of 2021 that was on the ground for 18 miles headed towards the Southwest side of Chicago. Midway actually had everyone get into the designated shelter area since they thought it was going to pass by. Another close call last year with a tornado trying to form over O'Hare Airport and Des Plaines live on air when the news stations broke into broadcasting during a severe thunderstorm warning/ tornado watch. That was crazy, I was on the El going Downtown and remember all the sirens going off all over the city, people's phones sounding the EAS alert and people wondering what to do/ where to go. Then there was the F1 of 2009 that tore through Rogers Park on the North Side of Chicago. The Oak Lawn tornado of 1967 that wen through the South Side of the Chicago. And the 1990 Planfield monster F5 tornado. Remember that system creating a severe thunderstorm with a microburst that uprooted a lot of big old trees in the lakefront suburb I grew up in about 65 miles north of Plainfield. How ironic this video was posted a few days before the July 15th & 16th tornado outbreak of 2024. A record 29 tornadoes varying from EF-0 - EF-2 occurd in the city (including one going right over Downtown which is very rare), and West & South suburbs. Not many touched down but they did a lot of damage to trees.

Love these types of vides Chris, keep up the great work!

My wife & I moved from Pawtucket RI to Chicago on Halloween in 2019. On August 10,2020 I witnessed my first derecho. After it was over I saw first hand tornado damage with trees down crisscrossing Jarvis Street in Rogers Park.

so all the chicagoans here after getting tornado warning two nights in a row ToT

Glad you covered that Woodridge tornado. I’ll never forget that day, me and my buddy were out driving around on either 355 or 55 like half an hour before the storm when we decided it was time to head back. I lived right on 75th street and the Tornado luckily missed us, but that was such a scary night.

And only couple days after this video the Chicago area has been bombarded by severe weather for the past 3 days.

You said the Oaklawn tornado spawned your fascination with tornadoes, for me it was the Plainfield tornado, I grew up in Plainfield, and went to the rebuilt high school. So many members of my community, family, friends, teachers, all have wild stories from that day!

Wow, this actually happened on Monday. We had a EF-1 TORNADO 🌪️ The whole city had tornadoes even downtown Chicago. It happened on Monday, July 15, 2024. At this moment, we have 12 tornadoes that have been confirmed since Monday that number could go higher.

As a person in the Chicago metro, I’ve gotten several tornado watches and a few tornado warnings.

I live in kendall county along the Fox River. Was sitting on my front lawn with blue clear skies, when I saw a Ryan Hall live feed warning about a tornado coming straight at me. I watched the radar and it came to the edge of the Fox and suddenly lifted without warning. The dark cloud went over my house and kept going east, circling like it was holding back the tornado. 20 minutes later it dropped on a Amazon factory. This neighborhood has some ancient native protections going. Severe weather goes around this small half mile area. You can literally see it on live radar it will just split going north or south of just this small neighborhood the reform together on the other side. It's the coolest thing ever.

I remember going to sleep right before the 2021 tornado struck, secure in the fact that no really nasty weather ever came to Naperville. I could have walked to where the tornado crossed Washington St. near the beginning of its life (you can actually see the street where I live just to the south of the path)... and I slept through it all. I'd always been a bit of a weather nerd, but after that storm I became a certified weather spotter. No more tornadoes are going to sneak up on me!

I witnessed the 2023 outbreak in downtown Chicago and saw the EF1 for myself

Great video, never heard the history of tornadoes in Chicago, well done!

LETS GOO HE POSTED

I grew up in Plainfield. I was 12 yrs old when the F5 hit. I lived less than 1/4 mile from the highschool. Never heard or seen a thing. My dad's car did have some hail damage. I now live not far from where the Oak Lawn tornado hit. My husband got to see the tornado that hit around Burr Ridge in 2022. You can still tell because the tops of the trees are bare. I drive through the area everyday to go to work in countryside.

Great video! I've been researching specifically Chicago and Illinois tornadoes for a while now, and I'm glad to see all the big ones covered well. The June 20th, 2021 tornado was only a quarter mile from where my girlfriend at the time lived - and a mile from my home. After that day, I began really studying down on meteorology and severe weather, and it's why I'm a chaser today. Great work, again, and Chase Everything!!

I'm born & raised in Chicago too. Family stories of the 1961 & 1967 Tornadoes plus experiencing the 1972 Tornado Warning while watching TV is what got me into Tornadoes.🌪🌪 Another Awesome Video Chris!!! 🌪

Woah, my mom also wasnt far from this tornado. She was a little older than your mom at the time. I remember that last one, I had just gotten done with my first round of chemo and was heading home. Yes, it was successful and now I'm cancer free.

Gotta love when you have primary sources in the immediate family.

My mom was 3 when the 1967 Oak Lawn tornado happened. My grandma grabbed her, and 3 of my 4 uncles and took shelter in their basement under the stairs, not realizing until several minutes later, that she left my 4th uncle upstairs still sleeping in his crib. My oldest uncle, who was old enough to remember that tornado, moved to Plainfield years later and was also impacted by the 1990 Plainfield F5. His house was fine, but he was a firefighter and responded to the damaged area to help with search and rescue. I live in Northwest Indiana and it seems like severe weather frequently splits or weakens just before reaching where I live. I was able to witness my first funnel cloud last year though.

Thanks for covering the Chicagoland area's history! I've lived in the area my entire life and still learned a lot about the historic tornadic events!

I’m glad someone finally looked more into these tornadoes near Chicago and/or in northeast Illinois. Most people usually don’t think much of tornadoes in Illinois outside of Plainfield and/or the Tri-State tornado. Especially with that Lemont tornado, I’ve been trying to find more of it for an awhile now. Apparently it had an anticyclonic satellite, but I can find no images of the Lemont F4 outside of the single image on the NWS website.

As someone who lives/travels in the areas you’re talking about this is terrifying 😭 the woodridge tornado actually hit my best friends house at the time. The house down the street was missing the entire top half of it. It still looks weird driving in that area with all the trees missing

Imagine an f4 just mosying onto your house and instead of needing to survive just a matter of seconds it decides to chill and hang at your place for literally minutes

I went through the 1967 Oak Lawn tornado. I was 17 and my mother worked in the court house in Oak lawn. It shook our house and scared us. It was a mess. It destroyed a mobile home park. Tore into the high school gym at 95th and southwest highway and crushed the Coral movie theater at 95th and Cicero avenue and crushed a grocery store at 95th and southwest highway. Destroyed our wonderful indoor roller rink. Today I live in that same mobile home park. I shiver every time we get tornado warnings. It was not just one tornado. There were three tornados that separated when they jumped 294 and went in different angles into oak lawn. I was in the driveway of our house and watched them jump the tollway. There were many deaths and the National Guard was in the town for at leas a week to make sure 95th Street was closed off totally from Harlem avenue to Pulaski. I would make a 32 cup coffee make and sandwiches, put them into a wagon and pull it to 95th and Harlem as I lived at 93rd and Harlem and made sure the National Guard men had food, coffee and water as well as bottles of soda. My mother finally was allowed to leave work 4 hours after the tornado and had to drive west on 95th to Harlem. When she got home she was crying due to the things she witnessed on the way home.

Planefield & Tornadoes go together like pancakes and syrup.

That Oak Lawn tornado hit my childhood Rink and then they rebuilt it and tore it down in 95' but Oak Lawn Roller Rink was, is, and is still a huge part of my life. I'm 43 and I still skate at Tinley and Lynnwood ✌️💜🛼

Ayy, I'm out here in the burbs. The father's day tornado on 75th Street in Naperville was wild, it pretty much followed 75th Street perfectly.

One of my college professors went through the Plainfield tornado. She was a senior in high school, and witnessed it. I have a photo of the tornado that struck Woodridge that I got from a customer who came in the next day at my job in New Lenox. Then in 2023, I saw the funnel cloud of the tornado that went through Burr Ridge and ended in Stickney as I was driving home from work. It was freaky.

Awesome video! I'm glad I got it recommended, as I grew up in Oak Lawn, and I went to OLCHS, graduating in 2002. I can give some neat details on the school, as well as (what I'm assuming was) some sort of water spout or a little funnel while driving on Lake Shore last weekend. In the school, the part of the building that remained, where it connected to the newer building is (or was, its been 22 years) actually visible. In one if the hallways, there is a short set of stairs/wheelchair ramp. The explanation was that the newer construction was not level with the remaining. Most of the art classrooms were on the second floor of that remaining part. Since I was an art kid, many of my classes were in that section. We had a longer tornado drill path, getting the students out of that part of the building, to the newer side. Just this past weekend (6/14/24) we had some nasty storms. I now live on the northside, but my family is still in Oak Lawn, and I visit them on Sundays. It went from calm, light drizzle on 294, to the worst rain I've ever driven through-- almost instantly, just as I was getting on I55. It was a mess, but drivable. The rain practically stopped once I passed the 90/94 exit, that i thought maybe I had gotten north enough from the storm. Just as soon as I was on the ramp to (northbound) Lake Shore Drive, the rain came back harder. Just after the museums, where the road is closest to the lake, I saw a small spinning mass of wind coming from the lake, smack the right side of my car. Debris went flying everywhere. It was so incredibly loud, and it almost roared, nothing like I've never heard before. I had significant trouble keeping my little car in my lane. Normally you'd find somewhere to pull off and wait it out, but there are no shoulders on L.S.D, and you gotta go with the traffic flow, to avoid accidents. I was going about 15mph in the right lane. Despite that awful wind and rain, there still where kids in their suped-up cars racing each other. It was actually terrifying to be on Lake Shore when that blast came. I don't know what to call it, but it was rotating, and smacked into my car. I only saw it because the lighting being so close to the lake. I was actually scared for my life. I got home in one piece, thankfully.

I remember June 20th,2021. It was Father’s Day and I was sick at the time and later that night we had a huge storm come in. I was 10 at the time and was so scared of watching the news not knowing that it would be one of my biggest passions in the future. Being sick didn’t help the situation of me being panicked but now I remember it all.

The power flashes on the Oak Lawn animation was a really nice touch💯

From one local boy to another love your channel I lived in Frankfort most of my life and have roamed all around the areas you spoke of and surprisingly never heard of the majority of these tornados save the Plainfield one

Very well done documentary on this! 👍

It's crazy how there've been over a thousand tornadoes in only half a year. 😮 I live in South Africa and we had an EF3 in June which killed 12 people and caused half a billion Rand in damage (about $28 million). If things are this bad with El Nīno, what will happen with La Nīna?

And only days later from the videos release, Chicagoland gets hit with a ton of tornados

i graduated from Oaklawn HS and i would always remember how school staff would always bring up the destruction that occurred back in 67’ so it’s really cool seeing it mentioned here

Man oh man this hits very close to home. Great production and great presentation.

There were two tornadoes just outside of the Chicago area that were deadly during the lull in the Chicago area. The first was one near Starved Rock that killed a bunch of people taking shelter in a bar around 2003. The second was from about 2015. Again a restaurant/truck stop was hit at the intersection of IL 64 and IL 251. Several people were killed in that incident as well. I’m not sure of the Fujita ratings of these tornadoes.

I'm lucky to be here commenting. A couple weeks ago ironically some tornadoes came through here by Chicago. I seen green in the sky during the storm like I never seen before just like in the picture. I flew into a panic. I had to pause this video and reflect on the moment.

My dad grew up just south of oak lawn and vividly remembers the 1967 tornado. My mom was on a commuter train heading back to the suburbs during the Plainfield F5. She said the sky looked scarier than she’d ever seen it. We grew up also hearing stories about all the Lemont tornadoes like they were ghosts. It’s crazy how many tornado stories surround the Chicagoland area.

Chicago literally just got hit with 5 tornados last night! In 1 night!

there’s gonna be a tropical storm near chicago (i got a notification on my computer)

great segment you have put together sir , thank you im a born and raised in chicagos n.side since 66

I like how this was recommended to me hours before the storm that happened awhile ago in chicago

Dude your videos are so good!!

Thank you for covering the Chicago area! Always thought we had a crazy amount over here. I’m from Wheaton, it’s crazy seeing my hometown on these maps lol

Every year me and my family would have "tornado parties" in the basement whenever there was a warning of a tornado nearby, lol. Some of my family in the past and myself currently live along I-55, which always seems to be tornado alley. Nicely done video of Chicago's tornadic history! 🌪

My husband is from Chicago and im from joliet. We moved to Joliet and when we heard a tornado siren he was so suprised at how i was so adamant about going to the basement lol i told him you aint in Chicago no more get in this basement lol

I live in a chicago suburb,and I can confirm that there are many many tornados in my area Edit: 3:13 that's the town that I live in

Grew up with the legends of the tornado that hit Crystal Lake. The subsequently built elementary school's lunchroom was literally an underground bunker.

I survived the Plainfield/Joliet tornado of August 1990. I was 3 years old and that whole experience changed my life forever and is why I ended up living in Minnesota after losing everything. I was born in St. Charles and have much of my family in Elgin.

As someone from the Chicago area, we get at least one tornado warning over here per year. I remember recording the tv eas for the July 12, 2023 on a Spanish speaking channel all while sirens were going off outside my home. The June 2022 tornado scare was the sky getting dark after getting the tornado warning but luckily the tornado didn't form but it resulted high wind damage around the area with a few trees down and a roof collapse on an apartment building in the next town over

The fact we had an outbreak the past 2 days as of this comment😭

Awesome Awesome Awesome video(s) My friend! I love your passion and effort through your videos. Both educational and entertaining! Keep it up buddy!!

as a crystal lake resident, i was not alive for the tornado, but people in the crystal lake historical society talk about it all the time. truly crazy.