hurray! my first tornado warning!

[scarletneon]

my boss' car got obliterated by a tree from Kilbourn Park. fun times.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

I think it was the worst in terms of lightning strikes, but in other catagories it was not even close to being the worst.

Elaborate.

90,000 lightning strikes, 94 mph winds near the lake, downed trees, lost power, reported hail, etc is pretty bad. I dont live in Chicago proper, but out here in the 'burbs it definitely was one of the worst storms Ive ever seen.

[Dariusz]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

Elaborate.

90,000 lightning strikes, 94 mph winds near the lake, downed trees, lost power, reported hail, etc is pretty bad. I dont live in Chicago proper, but out here in the 'burbs it definitely was one of the worst storms Ive ever seen.

Yeah, it was bad... My dad knows a 2 people who had severe damage done to their houses to the point they need to be torn down (Plainfield area). In Bolingbrook some commercial real estate received heavy damage. Over here in Naperville it wasn't so bad (on the north side), but it was still crazy.

[Drover]

Elaborate? What's to elaborate on? There were 3 tornadoes. Griffith in particular got mauled, complete with houses blown down and even a fatality. I'm not sure how much more elaboration is necessary.

[Ghostgecko]

To the person who mentioned never being in a hurricane. I moved to Key West just before Hurricane Wilma hit, it came the opposite direction off of cozumel, and I had only been down here about 3 weeks.

We had floods across the entire island (only 2 miles wide at widest point) from the 15 ft storm surge, winds in excess of 125 mph, it was interesting. The one thing I will compare growing up in the Midwest is it's a lot scarier with Tornado's as you just have a short notice before they drop on you. It's sometimes very unpredictable.

With a hurricane you can see the path for days, and although that doesn't change (it can) the strength can. With Wilma when it hit the gulf it shot up to a near 3 from a low 1. The warm gulf water heated it back up. It hit us hard. About 10,000 people lost their cars (1/3 population) and half of the island had their homes flooded. We had FEMA and the whole nine yards, although people didn't hear much of it as Katrina's aftermath was still the big thing at that time.

I remember seeing pictures of SUV's with the ocean water (salt water mind you!) over the side windows, and people telling me stories of kayaking down Duval street, and taking Jet ski's through the town! Just thought a little input towards the hurricane thing would be good.

I will tell you this, with a hurricane, the path of devastation is usually longer and more, as it lasts longer, and can hit more than one destination. Also, it's unsettling, to say the least, when there is a spinning saw blade heading towards your city...Nevertheless, tornadoes still scare me and fascinate me at the same time!

I am sorry about your boss's car and other things that you mentioned, the fatality. It never helps when it hits a major city head on. Did you hear about that one that hit Brooklyn, NY last year?

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by Drover

Elaborate? What's to elaborate on? There were 3 tornadoes. Griffith in particular got mauled, complete with houses blown down and even a fatality. I'm not sure how much more elaboration is necessary.

My point exactly. I cant think of another storm that rivaled this one, but some people think this storm wasnt even close to being the worst. Thats why I asked them to elaborate a little, I just cant think of a single storm that did this much damage or was that intense.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

Elaborate.

90,000 lightning strikes, 94 mph winds near the lake, downed trees, lost power, reported hail, etc is pretty bad. I dont live in Chicago proper, but out here in the 'burbs it definitely was one of the worst storms Ive ever seen.

There were only a couple short strong bursts near the lake by me. I was outside the whole time during the storm. No hail.
Last years storm in August was far worse in Lake View with damage to buildings and trees than this year. I had no power for almost three days last year.The wind was far more sustained and stronger.Trust me.


Maybe for many of the burbs and NW Indiana it was very notable for things other than lightning, but I have seen far worse in the city than this years storm.

When I am speaking of the storm I am speaking of its context in the city, not the burbs or NW Indiana.

I am not disputing it was or could have been the worse in the burbs or NW Indiana at all.