Storm damage in northern Illinois was sparse, but small areas received serious property damage. Since trees do not have leaves on their branches yet, there was probably much less tree damage than there would have been with leaves catching the severe winds.
In Cook County, a Severe Thunderstorm Warning issued March 15 at 12:41AM CDT until March 15 at 1:00AM CDT by NWS Chicago IL: At 1240 AM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line extending from Kenosha to 8 miles east of Lake Bluff to Lake View to Hazel Crest, moving northeast at 55 mph. The thunderstorms weakened below severe limits, and the Severe Thunderstorm Warning was canceled at 12:55 a.m.
At least four tornadoes were confirmed in northern Illinois as of NWS data collection and observations 9:45 p.m. Saturday, March 15, 2025.
EF-0 in Yorkville, IL
EF-0 in Bartlett and Hanover Park, IL
EF-1 in Cedar Lake, IN
EF-0 in Schererville and Merrillville, IN
A Tornado Warning was issued at 11:42 p.m. in the Kane County area, including Aurora IL, Elgin IL and Carpentersville IL until 12:15 AM CDT.
A Tornado Warning was issued at 11:55 p.m. for Elgin IL, Carpentersville IL and Saint Charles IL until 12:15 AM CDT
A strong, early spring low pressure system tracked from the Central Plains through the Upper Midwest Friday, March 14, 2025 into Saturday, March 15, 2025 spurring a multi-day severe weather outbreak across the central, southern, and eastern United States, according to the National Weather Service.
Locally, a line of thunderstorms tracked across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana during the late evening of March 14, 2025 into the early morning of March 15, 2025. Widespread damaging winds were observed with this line of thunderstorms, which produced at least four relatively brief tornadoes in northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana.
Also, multiple corridors of notable straight-line wind damage were observed, including in …
eastern DeKalb County (including portions of DeKalb and Sycamore),
western and northwestern Kane County (including the Maple Park, Burlington, Hampshire, and Huntley areas), and
Elgin.
Rogue winds caused damage in sporadic areas in Arlington Heights. A propane heater tower was blown over near Salsa 17 on the front sidewalk, shattering glass and bending metal, and blowing the propane tank storage door into Campbell Street. There was no propane gas odor in the area.
Downed wires caused a fence fire in a backyard in the block of 600 East Clarendon Avenue in Arlington Heights around 3:30 a.m. Saturday, March 15, 2025. In daylight, there were six ComEd trucks and crews making repairs at the downed power line incident. Although the initial number of customers that lost power was unknown, after isolation of the troubled area, there were 95 customers without power at 7:00 a.m.
Additionally, the strong low pressure system produced two separate periods of strong non-thunderstorm winds on March 14 and March 15. Most locations observed peak wind gusts between 40 and 50 mph during these periods, though some locally higher winds gusts were observed as well.
A period of poor air quality was also observed on Saturday morning, March 15th as dust and smoke from dust storms and wildfires across the southern Plains was brought in by the prevailing southerly to southwesterly winds. The sky during sunrise and continuing hours later was clear but obscured by a white haze. There was possibly dust, debris and salt stirred up locally, as well.
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