An EF-0 tornado briefly touched down and left multiple trees uprooted and several homes damaged in the Saddlebrook Farms subdivision near Grayslake Wednesday evening.
National Weather Service (NWS) Chicago confirmed to Lake & McHenry County Scanner that the tornado, with peak winds of around 80 mph and rated as EF-0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, touched down at around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday for approximately one minute in the Saddlebrook Farms subdivision near Grayslake.
The tornado formed from thunderstorms that began moving into Illinois from Wisconsin in an east-southeast direction at around 8:15 p.m., prompting severe thunderstorm warnings for northern McHenry County.
The storms initially appeared to have weakened as they entered Lake County at around 9:15 p.m.
At around 9:35 p.m., a tornado warning was issued for portions of central Lake County after the tornado had already hit the Saddlebrook Farms subdivision.
Velocity radar showed rotation moving over southern Grayslake and into the Libertyville and Green Oaks areas.
The tornado-capable storms continued moving in an east-southeast direction at around 30-35 mph before entering Lake Michigan at around 9:50 p.m. The tornado warning was then cancelled.
At least six houses along Fox Hunt Way, Preakness Lane, Brookside Court and Saddlebrook Drive at the northeast corner of the subdivision were damaged, a Lake & McHenry County Scanner reporter saw.
Multiple trees were uprooted and fell onto homes, damaging roofs and siding.
Debris, like tree limbs, was left scattered in yards and on the streets.
Some of the damage was already cleaned up on Thursday.
A resident whose house was damaged told Lake & McHenry County Scanner that he heard a loud boom, which sounded like lightning.
“Everything started shaking,” he said. The shaking lasted around 15-20 seconds.
Another resident, whose neighbor’s house was damaged, also described hearing loud noises when the tornado touched down.
Multiple residents on social media said they heard the distinct freight train-like noise of the tornado.
No injuries were reported, and it appeared all houses that were damaged remain habitable.
Portions of Highland Park reportedly lost power, and the storms appeared to cause only minor property damage to other areas of the county as they continued moving eastward from Grayslake.
NWS said that there are no other notable damage reports in Lake County from Wednesday evening.