How the Kankakee, Illinois tornado cut a destructive path through Aroma Park

Based on the debris left behind in Aroma, Park, the tornado in Kankakee County Tuesday night was large and destructive. This is how we can tell, and the science behind why it happened.

The signature on the weather radar when the tornado blew through around 6:30 p.m. looked like a bowling ball, and the damage the storm left in its wake matches.

Multiple building collapses were reported. Houses lost their roofs and upper floors, and trees scattered like matchsticks. Huge trees were pulled from the ground by their roots.

While the final word on how many tornadoes touched down and how powerful they were will come from the surveys conducted by the National Weather Service, the damage left behind could be indicative of EF-2 or EF-3 strength, with winds up to 160 miles per hour. That's what it takes to demolish entire floors of well-built homes, and to bend and twist steel radio towers.

Trees that weren't uprooted but instead snapped in half at 20 to 30 feet off the ground are also indicators of an EF-3 strength tornado.

Storm chaser Freddie Bryant, who began following the storm in Pontiac, Illinois and chased it all the way to Kankakee also described a large, powerful storm.

"We started in Pontiac and then we got to Kankakee, and that's when it got really strong, multiple vortex tornado," he said. "And then it turned into a big stovepipe, and you could hear the roar; it was pretty intense, the roar you could hear on this tornado. You could hear it just destroying things."

Bryant followed the supercell storm all the way to the Michigan and Indiana state line.

"Going into yesterday, you could just tell from forecasting for like the last 24 hours before the event that it was going to be something fairly serious, because the models were pretty consistent in showing a couple supercells or even a singular supercell," he said.

It was one of the most destructive and long-lived storms some experienced storm chasers said they have ever witnessed.

"You've got to be just very aware of your surroundings, and where you're driving, and make sure you're not driving into the storm," Bryant said.

The fact it was a nighttime storm made it extremely dangerous to chase the storm.

"Once it was dark, it was just a whole different ballgame," Bryant said. "Nights like last night, those nights are really stressful, and hurt, and you go home wondering."

While there have not been any reports of severe injuries or deaths in Aroma Park, residents had to endure a terrifying ordeal.

"We closed the door as we were getting hit," said Erin Boershig, who took cover in her neighbor's home with her 7-month-old son. "We heard the glass shattering and all I could think of was, get over my son. Like, get over him so nothing hits him."

Four adults, three kids and four dogs took shelter in that basement Tuesday night. No one was injured because they rode out the tornado underground.

"So we went down into the basement, and we had to climb out the windowsill here," she said. "And this is where they pulled all of us out."

Despite the scary circumstances, Boershig said, her son fell asleep.

It is very rare to get a very large tornado this early in the spring season, according to Illinois State Climatologist Dr. Trent Ford.

"What is rare is when we get those very, very large tornadoes; really, the EF-3 and larger, those are pretty rare outside of those core months of April, May, and June," he said.

But Dr. Ford said the warmer spring temperatures from climate change are making tornadoes like this more likely.

"What we're seeing from more and more studies is that, not only more environments that can create tornadoes more frequently, but also extending that period of time earlier in the spring into March and into February," he said.

Research shows that early-season tornadoes lead to more deaths than summer tornadoes, because an earlier sunset means more tornadoes happen at night.

"We will never have a house that doesn't have a basement or some sort of storm shelter. Not here. I can't," Boershig said. "I can't believe we're all here without a scratch on us right now."

The National Weather Service is still working on its Kankakee County surveys. So far, of four suspected touchdowns, the NWS has confirmed one EF-1 tornado touchdown in Jasper County, Indiana. They are also assessing at least one touchdown in Lake Village, Indiana, where an elderly couple was killed.