I Was Very Nearly Killed in a POWERFUL Microburst in Elgin IL Today

Microburst? You got caught in a freak thunderstorm and make it sound like the Second Coming.

Chill.

originally posted by: Aqualung2012
From CBS Chicago

A resident of the east side of Elgin said the area looked like a “war zone” after a microburst pelted the area about 2:30 p.m., leaving windows broken at the Hemmens Cultural Center, but no one injured, officials said.

We got some of that in southern Will County yesterday. Not the wind so much as the rain. The rain was so hard that the field across the street disappeared. It was just a wall of white - you couldn't see past it.

It's great that you're safe.

originally posted by: ConvincedMan
Microburst? You got caught in a freak thunderstorm and make it sound like the Second Coming.

Chill.

Oh I am chill. You just don't know what you're talking about.

And please show me where I've exaggerated.

Its amusing that you and your friend feared for your lives, and ran from this terrifying idea of death from nature, but when you got home you both probably smoked a cigarette and continued killing yourself slowly.

a reply to: Aqualung2012

Clouds aren't evil- People with lots of power are though.

a reply to: WeAre0ne

Hell yes we had a cig after that, haha!

That's nicotine addiction for you. Glad I could put a smile in your heart.

a reply to: superluminal11

No, of course clouds aren't evil. But as i said, they definitely looked the part!

You just can't beat Mother Nature if she's pissed off at you.


I guess she doesn't want you to smoke

Anything

a reply to: Aqualung2012

It looks like Tuesday they are calling for even more severe weather. Read more in DTOMs thread

Won't be making any last minute trips to the store this time....

a reply to: Aqualung2012


In response to the first sentence of the article:

A few broken trees and glass, a warzone do not make.

a reply to: chuck258

You should take that up with the Elgin resident who made the comparison, me thinks.

But trust me... There are more than a few trees downed, and many are not simply "downed," they are twisted apart at the trunk. Also, you don't realize that the Hemmens is an impressive building. It's not a movie theater, it's a true theatre.

Then there was the house on fire, the over turned semi truck, the loss of services due to massive blackouts... Many cars and homes had trees on them.

Not a warzone perhaps, but certainly not something to be scoffed at.

hey Aqualung- so glad you and your friend are safe!

I have been through one of these as well and it's exactly as you describe!! You really do feel like 'The End is Nigh'!! Lol!
I've never run that fast in my life before or since- crazy stuff! I agree- feel like it's definitely going to be getting more intense in the coming years. I've been dreaming about building a cob or straw bale house, maybe now's the time

Stay safe and I hope the power comes back up for peeps soon!

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: Aqualung2012

Glad you survived that....and while it wasn't quite as bad here in Michigan....it looks eerily like your pictures around much of my city.

Yeah it wasn't nearly so bad but I was one of the 400,000 out of power for over 2 days. The pockets of damage were what was weird. My neighbor who saw his tree uproot in 75 mph winds said it was like a mini tornado that would dip down and then skip up and hit houses on the next block. He said he could see the mini funnel do that as it passed through. The storm was over as quickly as it formed. Must have been one powerful storm to do the amounts of damage it did over such a large area of the Midwest.

a reply to: pavil

Your description is spot on. I've been through plenty of severe storms in several different regions of the US, but this one was far and away the most explosively violent I've witnessed. The fact that we were caught outside in it does of course increase the impact it had on me personally, but as you can attest: it was extraordinary.

a reply to: Aqualung2012

I'm sorry to update with this news, but it seems there was a death associated with the storm.

Chicago Actress Dies From Falling Tree After Tuesdays Powerful Storm


”Molly Glynn, accomplished Chicago theater actress who also played a recurring role as a doctor on the TV series "Chicago Fire," has died after a tree toppled by a powerful storm struck her as she rode her bike in a forest park. She was 46.”

a reply to: Aqualung2012

A friend of mine said that The Fukashima Meltdown has put
radiation in the ocean, and when it gets really hot (especially
with El Nino off the pacific shore in California) it's starts getting
humid, and this ionizes the air resulting in severe lightning storms
such as the one that hit Catalina and also the West Coast a month
ago or so.

Maybe this seems unrelated (Fukashima) but its funny that this
story and all the radiation has completely disappeared from the
mainstream news and in my opinion is probably the most serious
thing (not being talked about on the news) out of everything that
has been happening as of late.

Just putting my two cents out there.

P.S. I'm glad the two of you were ok.

Rebel5

Amazing story . Some rumors say that this has to do with the tenth planet arriving .. All the planets within our solar system having increasing noticeable change.. strange weather like this will be seen more frequently

I drove through the very northern edge of that weather front as it passed through Lake County. Not as bad as you got it further south though. Just some very heavy rain and a brief pelting with marble sized hail. Was on the lookout for tornadic activity, but this storm was too brief and let up after a half hour or so.

This kind of storm apparently known not just as microburst, but as a derecho. (I guess the name has origins in South America?) Not cyclonic, but linear winds with gusts over 70MPH. (The weather alerts/warning are setup to look for tornados, not this particular weather pattern.) But like a hurricane, loose debris and trees are (obviously) the main hazzard. Most treefall is rotten or insect damaged trees. I'd bet a lot that went down already had the ash borer beetle, which has hit this area pretty hard. Still a lot of dead crowns everywhere if you bother looking.

I remember a few years back when there was a large stormfront derecho that knocked out trees from southern Wisconsin to northwest Indiana, and had power out for a week. That really sucked. (Missed out on the damage, only sweated a bit with no AC, but any frozen food we couldn't cook right away had to be chucked.) At least this small one should be halfway cleaned up by now.

Going through strong storms away from shelter is a bit of a trip though, you really have to be alert and still keep a cool head. Sounded a bit too close for comfort in your case.

a reply to: Aqualung2012

No doubt that what you went through was intense; especially being outside in it. My three kids, wife and I went through an F3 in April of this year that lasted 2 minutes. It was around 10pm. The lightening was non stop and pure white. I walked outside and I could hear it about 1/2 a mile away tearing up the woods and homes. It sounded like hundreds of helicopters coming at us. I yelled for everyone to get out of the house and we crawled into the crawl space under the house. I prayed out loud the whole time.

It is amazing how much information the mind can take in and process in any given moment. I remember smelling dirt first, then oak, then pecan trees, then pine trees. At the same time I could hear all the debris hitting the house. The windows blew in and then parts of the walls. There was a short lull of about 10 seconds with hardly any wind and then it started again. Come to find out the tornado had an eye because it was 3/4 of a mile wide and it went directly over us. The evidence was that all the trees around us were laid parallel to all four walls of our home. Not one tree laid on our house.

After all was said and done we had 90K of loss inside the home and 60k of structure damage. Thank God for the ability to pay for replacement insurance for contents and structure. We didn't live in our house from April 28th till August 3rd. All our vehicles were beat up to. Again, thank God for insurance. No matter what, I consider us to be very blessed. Money and things come and go, but life and health is paramount and we have those intact.

In closing, sorry to hear you went through that man. You and your friend have a guardian angel watching over ya'll! Thank you for sharing your experience too!

a reply to: Aqualung2012

Just read your explaination os such, 'Tut,Tut, do not do it agin (Grin), nice to joke now, but Glad I was not there.....