Aurora, Illinois-Beloit, Wisconsin tornado of March 1, 2024

Meteorological Sypnosis
On February 31, a Day 2 Moderate risk of severe weather was issued for Central Illinois. On March 1, the outlook was upgraded to a High Risk for North-Central Illinois, Southern Wisconsin, and Northwest Ohio. An incredibly rare, 60% hatched area of tornadoes was included in Northern Illinois. At 1300 PM UTC, PDS Tornado Watch 199 was issued for Southern Wisconsin, Notheast Illinois, a small portion of Northwest Ohio, and extreme Southwest Michigan. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch was also included for vast surrounding areas as far as Iowa City, Iowa. A line of Severe Thunderstorms and a few Supercells was located in South-Central Illinois. Hail and extremely high Straight-Line-Winds had already caused enough destruction when the storms moved into Joliet, Illinois and dropped a large, powerful, and extremely violent tornado near downtown Joliet.

Tornado Track
The tornado touched down Highway 6 as an EF1, moving a car into a ditch, but leaving the 3 occupants, a 34 year old man and his 9 year old twin daughters unscathed, thanks to their dog who heroically jumped in front of the children as glass was flying in every direction. The 2 year old dog was not harmed, but unnerved. The tornado intensified to an EF2 and caused major damage to the Joliet Police Department. As it exited Joliet, now a High-End EF2, it entered the town of Crest Hill, Illinois and intensified to an EF3, sweeping away a handful of unanchored homes on Oakland Avenue. The large, multiple vortex stovepipe tornado continued through the rest of Crest Hill, weakening and causing mostly EF0 damage, with some sporadic EF2-3 damage around the Northwestern edge of town. It continued Northwest toward Crystal Lawns, growing in size and intensity. It caused mid range EF4 damage in Crystal Lawns and winds here were estimated at about 175 mph. The Louis Joliet Mall took a direct hit and 43 people were injured. As the massive twister moved into Plainfield, Illinois, it weakened to an EF3 and severely scoured the ground.