More storms for Sauk Valley as Friday cleanup continues

A storm system expected to bring tornadoes, thunderstorms and hail could strike northwest Illinois in three waves on Tuesday, the National Weather Service said — five days after a tornado-producing storm swept across the region on Friday.

Crews were out Monday morning in the area between Sublette and Amboy removing the last of the storm debris from roads.

The weather outbreak was to have been preceded by lightning and rain overnight on Monday.

Early on Monday, the service issued a map indicating that Carroll and Whiteside counties will be in an area of moderate risk while Lee and Ogle counties were relegated to areas of lesser, or “enhanced,” risk.

The first round is expected to arrive between 2 and 6 p.m. Tuesday, composed mainly of isolated storm cells moving at a 35 mph clip through the region.

The second round of storm cells will arrive between 6 p.m. and midnight Tuesday. The service said computer models project a better chance for stronger tornadoes from these isolated storms. These cells will move more swiftly, between 50 mph and 60 mph.

The third round will be a line of storms starting shortly after midnight and extending into Wednesday overnight. This third round will be part of a strong cold front that catches up to the other storm cells, producing a line of storms similar to those that did the most damage on Friday.

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Derbis is seen tangled in power lines outside of Amboy Saturday, April 1, 2023 the day after a line of powerful storms roared through the Sauk Valley. (Alex T. Paschal - apaschal@shawmedia.com/credit)

Power outages

A handful of Lee County customers were still without power because of two outages, ComEd reported Monday about 10:45 a.m. on its outages map.

Whiteside County had one outage affecting 64 customers, Ogle County had fewer than five residences without power while Bureau County reported 11 residences without power.

The southeast corner of Lee County was one of the areas hardest hit by Friday’s storm, and included the communities of Amboy, Sublette and West Brooklyn.

By Saturday evening, nearly 20 hours after the initial storm, the county had 7,288 homes without power. That had improved to a little more than 3,900 residences on Sunday morning.

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Lightning appears above the Nelson power plant as storms roll through the area Friday, March 31, 2023. (Alex T. Paschal - apaschal@shawmedia.com/credit)

Storm assessment

On Sunday, assessment teams from the National Weather Service’s Chicago station identified the characteristics of a tornado that passed by Deer Grove in Whiteside County. This long track tornado moved on a path of 14 miles across northwest Bureau, through southeast Whiteside and into southwest Lee. The service classified it as an EF-1.

Tornadoes are ranked on what is called the Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale, with wind speed being one measure. EF-0 is 65 to 85 mph, EF-1 is 86 to 110 mph, EF-2 is 111-135 mph, EF-3 is 136-165 mph, EF-4 is 166 to 200 mph and EF-5 is more than 200 mph.

Other tornadoes identified by the weather service were:

Amboy was an EF-2. West Brooklyn was an EF-1. Baileyville had a tornado whose strength has not yet been determined. An EF-1 hit Machesney Park and an EF-1 went from Davis Junction to Belvidere, resulting in the collapse of the Apollo Theatre and the death of a man there.

Tornadoes were also confirmed in Caledonia-Poplar Grove, Wellington, Stockland, Lombard to Addison, most were EF-1. The Chicago station also tracked EF-2 tornadoes in Oxford and Fowler, Indiana, and an EF-1 in Remington, Indiana.