Tornado blows RR cars off tracks Harvard Ill.

[Poppa_Zit]

Just saw helicopter news video, happened within last two hours.

There is a UP mainline that runs through Harvard from Janesville to Chicago and a short line that runs west to east from Chemung to Harvard. Not known at this time which line high winds hit. Light was poor, but it looked like maybe 4-6 cars on side.

Harvard is just south of the Illinois-Wisconsine state line, east of Rockford.

[Lord Atmo]

a tornado in the midwest in January....?

 

[n012944]

a tornado in the midwest in January....?

 

The weather today was like one would expect in early May, mid 60's.

[spokyone]

a tornado in the midwest in January....?

 

NWS says it is only 2nd one ever in N. Illinois for January. Homes damaged, kids scared. I can't find story about UP. Also I can't find other RR in Harvard.

[route_rock]

  Has happened before willhappen again cause Mother Nature is a fickle old hag lol.Yeah Tornado watch here and we will get snow in the next two days lol.

[eolafan]

WBBM radio just confirmed rail car off the tracks in McHenry area due to very high winds (had to have been to take that weight off the tracks)...and bad weather alert.  One week or less ago we had -2F here, now +64F one week later...somebody is not living right!

[SFbrkmn]

This tornado activity going on today is very, very rare for January in the midwest. Makes me wonder what it'll be like come spring during the heart of the storm season.

[kschmidt]

We have had Tornado Warnings in Southeast Wisconsin since about 3:30pm.  It appears several Tornados did touch down in the area of western Kenosha county.  Plus north of Kenosha along I-94.  I don't know if any of the railroads had any weather related problems.  Both UP and CP run through the area where one of the tornadoes touched down. 

Actually I just heard the CP dispatcher give out a "weather related" speed restriction to a train running south out of Milwaukee for 25 mph being prepared to stop at 6:00pm 01/07/2008

Keith

[Mr_Ash]

were under a Tornado watch here in Aurora, lasts a few more hours. Right now its just windy with alot of lightening & thunder

[CShaveRR]

Channel 5 is mentioning a confirmed tornado in Poplar Grove, which is west of Harvard (no railroad left there, however).  Haven't heard about the railroad car.

We're under a tornado watch at the moment, but the severe bands seem to be going north and south of us so far.  Of greater concern is the possibility of flooding rains.

[tree68]

Wow - Just checked out the radar - that's quite a line.  Chicago is under the gun right now, and the line trails down to southwestern Missouri and beyond, with tornado watches all along it.  Radar-indicated mesocyclone (possible precursor to tornadic activity) just south of Chi-town, and a radar-indicated tornado in SW MO.  The watches extend all the way up into central MI as well.  Have to keep an eye on that mess.  It'll be here by morning if it keeps up.

[railfan619]

Off topic but We here in wisconsin had some really wacky weather to a couple counties were under tornado warnings in the southeastern part of the state along with a lot of rain and now flooding is occurring from the rain. There were even reports of aleast. 4 to 7 tornados that have been reported but no one knows exactly how many have touched down.

[DennisHeld]

a tornado in the midwest in January....?

 

NWS says it is only 2nd one ever in N. Illinois for January. Homes damaged, kids scared. I can't find story about UP. Also I can't find other RR in Harvard.

Harvard, IL is my home town. My 86 year old mother still lives there. She's OK. I'm not certain where in Harvard the cars were overturned.
UP (ex-CNW) is the railroad through town. Harvard is the end of the northwest Metra line. The UP continues to Janesville, WI. The GM plant, in particular. The Chemung and Chicago (also ex-CNW) goes west from Harvard. It's the old CNW line that was part of the Rockford-Kenosha line.
Usually this time of year the temps are near zero. In fact, the average low point (in average temperatures) in northern IL is tomorrow, Jan 8th.

[Mr_Ash]

Yeah it was in the 60's yesterday

[Poppa_Zit]

Just saw the TV video again. Looks more like 7 or 8 cars now of a mixed freight. Several boxcars on top of a fill, with what looked like maybe four open hoppers in a ditch below tracks, still coupled. Also looks like it happened on/near a trestle. UP loco on site.

[CShaveRR]

Kind of hard to ignore, PZ!  What channel are you watching?

[DennisHeld]

According to my nephew, who is a police officer in Harvard, the derailment was about 1 mile NW of Harvard very near Lawrence, IL. Hazmat teams have been called. I don't know the nature of the spill. Could be diesel fuel. The village of Lawrence is being evacuated as we speak.
The following websites (if they work) are shots of the tornado. The one taken by Mr. (Rev) Pfingsten was taken 1/2 east of my mother's house where I grew up.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=108578&src=4

http://www.rrstar.com/multimedia/x531360995?pop=true

[Modelcar]

....This is weird stuff....64.9 degrees here today.  I'm aware of that line of weather west of us but no extremes forecast for us tonight.

Tomorrow, this area will be under a moderate thunderstorms activity and 35 to 40 mph winds.  One knows when seeing these kinds of extremes {temps}, in January...it doesn't bode well for some areas.

Warm is nice, but it generally means trouble for some folks.

[Anonymous]

Wonder if the train was carrying mobile homes......

[inch53]

a tornado in the midwest in January....?

 

Several years ago now, there was a tornado hit Pinkstaff IL at Christmas time with no warning. No-one was killed [thank God] but a lot of damage.

Our thoughts go out to you folk up north, you've had a time of it this winter already

[U33B]

Just got back from Harvard area, took a look at the 'wreck'. All the roads are blocked off and the town of Lawrence has been evacuated due to a chemical hazard in one of the box cars. The cops i talked to said nothing was know to have spilled, but the potential was there, so on the side of caution, all 500 people were asked to leave. From what i could see, only one car looked to be on the ground, the others appeared to be upright. It took place just a mile north of the Harvard train station, shouldnt take much to clean up, but no recovery looks to have taken place as of yet. What a freaky day though.

[TRNBUF]

We were just added to the tornado watch here in Southern Illinois.  The way it sounds we are going to get hit overnight.  That I hate!!!

[spokyone]

a tornado in the midwest in January....?

 

NWS says it is only 2nd one ever in N. Illinois for January. Homes damaged, kids scared. I can't find story about UP. Also I can't find other RR in Harvard.

UP (ex-CNW) is the railroad through town. Harvard is the end of the northwest Metra line. The UP continues to Janesville, WI. The GM plant, in particular. The Chemung and Chicago (also ex-CNW) goes west from Harvard. It's the old CNW line that was part of the Rockford-Kenosha line.

Dennis: When all else fails I look at Illinois road map. Does the Chemung & Chicago stop just west of Chemung at that facility? Looking at the link, it appears the derailment is at Lawrence Creek on the UP.
Edit:  Thanks U33B

[U33B]

Update, there were in fact up to 6 cars on the ground. From my vantage point, i was only able to see one, but there were 6 apparently.

[SD60M]

This is indeed crazy weather it was 73 degrees here in Memphis! We are expected to get the southern tip of the storm here but we have no watches or warnings as of yet. If its this crazy in Jan. just think of what Feb. has to offer since the really crazy weather atleast around here is usually around that time! My heart goes out to the familys that lost there homes. I also hope no more trains derail!

[overall]

Back in April 1998, there was a tornado that came through downtown Nashville,Tennessee. There were several cars blown over on their side in that one. Two CSX lines come together within sight of my office downtown one from Memphis, the other from Louisville. I saw them laying on their sides after that happened.

 

George

[Krazykat112079]

Ethylene Oxide is the culprit.  It did not leak, but they are worried, that is why everyone is still evacuated.

[Global Warming]

The weather today was like one would expect in early May, mid 60's.

 

We are up visiting family in Divernon, and it was 66 degrees yesterday. Never seen anything like it before.

[Poppa_Zit]

Kind of hard to ignore, PZ!  What channel are you watching?

7

[Ishmael]

We were just added to the tornado watch here in Southern Illinois.  The way it sounds we are going to get hit overnight.  That I hate!!!

I have no way of knowing when this was posted, but if it was last night, the storm has already passed. We got a lot of rain and wind here in South St. Louis county last night, but no damage. The weather maps at noon showed Southern Illinois getting about the same thing, but it all depends on how far south you are. Most of the storm was centered on Mt. Vernon.