Chicago, IL

Weather Forecast Office

March 14-15, 2025: Line of Late Night Storms Produces Damaging Winds and Multiple Tornadoes

NOTE: This page is still under construction and will be updated over the next several days as we continue to conduct our post-event analysis. We thank you for your patience!

Overview
Tornadoes
Strong Winds
Storm Reports
Photos
Radar
Meteorology/Environment
Additional Info

Overview

Page last updated: 7:30 PM CDT Saturday, March 15th

A strong, early spring low pressure system tracked from the central Plains through the Upper Midwest Friday, March 14th into Saturday, March 15th, spurring a multi-day severe weather outbreak across the central, southern, and eastern United States.

Locally, a line of thunderstorms tracked across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana during the late evening of March 14th into the early morning of March 15th. Widespread damaging winds were observed with this line of thunderstorms, which produced a handful of relatively brief tornadoes in the local area.

At least 4 tornadoes have been confirmed thus far from this severe weather event:
- EF-0 in Yorkville, IL
- EF-0 in Bartlett and Hanover Park, IL
- EF-1 in Cedar Lake, IN
- EF-0 in Schererville and Merrillville, IN

Multiple corridors of notable straight-line wind damage were also observed, including in eastern DeKalb County (including portions of DeKalb and Sycamore), western and northwestern Kane County (including the Maple Park, Burlington, Hampshire, and Huntley areas), and in Elgin.

Additionally, the strong low pressure system produced two separate periods of strong non-thunderstorm winds on the 14th and again on the 15th. Most locations observed peak wind gusts between 40 and 50 mph during these periods, though some locally higher winds gusts were observed as well.

A period of poor air quality was also observed on Saturday, March 15th as dust and smoke from dust storms and wildfires across the southern Plains was brought in by the prevailing southerly to southwesterly winds.

Tornadoes

Tornado Summary Graphic

Downloadable KMZ File with All Tornado Tracks (To Be Added Later)

Downloadable Shapefile with All Tornado Tracks (To Be Added Later)

Below is a summary of all of the NWS damage survey findings in the NWS Chicago forecast area from this severe weather event. An interactive map with all of this information can be found on our Damage Assessment Toolkit Viewer website (to see the data from this event, make sure that the date range in the top right corner includes this event's date). Instructions for how to download KMZ files and shapefiles with our survey data are available here.

1.) xxxxx Tornado

(click on image to enlarge)

Summary:

(To be added later)

2.) xxxxx Tornado

(click on image to enlarge)

Summary:

(To be added later)

3.) xxxxx Tornado

(click on image to enlarge)

Summary:

(To be added later)

4.) xxxxx Tornado

(click on image to enlarge)

Summary:

(To be added later)

#.) xxxxx Tornado

(click on image to enlarge)

Summary:

(To be added later)

The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:

EF0 Weak 65-85 mph	EF1 Moderate 86-110 mph	EF2 Significant 111-135 mph	EF3 Severe 136-165 mph	EF4 Extreme 166-200 mph	EF5 Catastrophic 200+ mph

When a tornado is known to have occurred but does not cause damage to any qualified damage indicators, or if the only damage is located in an area that is inaccessible to NWS storm survey personnel, then a tornado may be assigned the EF-Unknown (EF-U) rating.

Strong Winds

To be added later

Storm Reports

Preliminary Map of Storm Reports

Preliminary Storm Report Map

Preliminary National Storm Reports

Interactive Map of Preliminary Storm Reports

Storm report text summary to be added later...

Photos


(To be added later). Photo courtesy of [name].	(To be added later). Photo courtesy of [name].	(To be added later). Photo courtesy of [name].

(To be added later). Photo courtesy of [name].	(To be added later). Photo courtesy of [name].	(To be added later). Photo courtesy of [name].

(To be added later). Photo courtesy of [name].	(To be added later). Photo courtesy of [name].	(To be added later). Photo courtesy of [name].

Radar

To be added later.

Meteorology and Environment


(To be added later)	(To be added later)	(To be added later)

(To be added later)	(To be added later)	(To be added later)

Additional Information

Links:

Media use of NWS Web News Stories is encouraged!
Please acknowledge the NWS as the source of any news information accessed from this site.

Additional event recaps can be found on the NWS Chicago Past Events Page