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

a reply to: Psynic

By "should", I only meant that the likelihood of dying was very, very high. "Could" doesn't really signify a high probability to me. But yeah, I'm glad you didn't die, and I'm glad the OP didn't die either.

originally posted by: derfreebie
a reply to: Aqualung2012
Indeed a close call Aqualung! And from another loco
local (kinda now) F&S!

On the other hand when I run low on smokes the harp
player Worm gets nervous. He's dug in almost thirty years
now-- way too close to the Devil's Triangle for old trees
that don't look that healthy anyway. There was a parking
lot for Simpson right across the street made by Dundee,
Duncan and Slade Ave's. Fire Station #2 was on the skinny,
where Duncan dumps into Dundee there. Bricks long gone.
Yeah been there trying out the new jets in the BelAir a
million times or two. Done me with a 4-inch branch RIGHT
ON the hood scoop in '73.

Sounds too much like Scorsese..
"You know what a 4.4 can do to a Holley?" Cracked windshield
too, my insurance guy loved me. Just pulled away from Slade
n' Duncan and got Slade'd ROFL. Bleach the seat cushion, and
there's a freebie shaped (DOH) dent in the roof Gary bought in '74.

Back to the thread, and the trees-- now you got me worried.
I need to shoot him and Diane an email to see if they're out
by Monday... because a few of the oaks still peppering that asphalt
slab are older than Jimmy Page's closet door. I came within about
two feet of being an Allstate commercial myself.
BTW glad the nicotine monkeys made it home ok

All I can say is I'm happy to hear a reply from someone local. However colorful a reply it was, I appreciate your words.

"Bleach the seat cushion." LOL

originally posted by: Trueman
a reply to: Aqualung2012

My friend and I had decided to walk to the gas station about 7 blocks away from his house to get smokes, in the hope that we'd make it back in time to beat the absolutely evil looking cloud....

If the storm didn't kill you, the cigarettes will.

You're probably right... I do need to quit. I smoke way too much. No smart alec retort here.

originally posted by: Daughter2
I'm in the Chicago area too but totally missed the storm. One of the things I noticed and actually thought about doing a thread is that major storms seem to be either going to the North or South and not directly hitting downtown. It's so strange. I know once they hit the lake many time the will either pick up or die down but I'm see it change course about 50 miles before downtown.

As a side note, it's amazing how many close calls people have and live to tell about it. There was a huge thread about it a few years back. There's a theory out there that people actually do die but the time line gets resets (like in a video game) so they can finish their life. So maybe you and your friend actually did die.

I don't think I died... but what do I know?

But I too share your curiosity about how Chicago itself has avoided (natural) disaster all these years. I remember a TV show a while back which speculated on what would happen should Chicago get hit by "Supertornado." It was one of those "not if but when" scenarios.

I don't know about Chicago, but generally speaking, Elgin and much of the Fox Valley area are usually spared the brunt of most major storm systems... due to the valley itself. Elgin and the surrounding towns are sort of in this basin, and for some reason we don't see that many damaging storms, as opposed to Sleepy Hollow for instance.

Things be a changin

originally posted by: Aleister
Just used this pic on another thread, and thought it'd be appropriate here too. Glad you escaped the wrath of Khan or whomever. Did you think of running into the space between two houses, or under someone's porch for the duration? Seems a long way to run in this kind of weather without taking shelter. Here's the pic, taken by someone in Elgin with a cell phone:

You know... the only shelter I was interested in was my friends house. I wasn't stopping for anything. Trees were falling into peoples houses, the lightening was booming just blocks away, I was scrambling for "home" or bust, period

on the pic.

Nick Ulivieri took this picture of storm clouds hovering over downtown Chicago on Sept. 5, 2014. (Nick Ulivieri)

In Palatine, winds estimated at 70 mph took down large trees

originally posted by: rickymouse
Whooo. Exciting! You will have something to talk about for many days in town.

You are alive, all you got out of it are some really good memories, something to talk about years from now with your grandchildren. Adrenaline is a rush.

Oh, glad to hear you didn't get killed. If you had you wouldn't be posting your experience.

First there will be clean up for many days, but yeah, this was historical and I was in it. Pretty cool, add it to my list of good stories... and definitely the biggest adrenaline rush I've ever had.

It means a lot to see the ATS community as well as you as an individual showing kind regard for my mortal soul and its experiences. Thank you!

originally posted by: new_here
a reply to: Aqualung2012

Geez, those are some CRAZY pics (and a beautiful neighborhood, btw- sorry for the loss of those trees!)

Considering those power lines I can see intermingled with trees, did you guys lose power?

In any case, glad you lived to tell about it. And a warning to us all, not to take Mama Nature for granted. She can deliver quite a storm!!!

Yeah, those pics were from a quick trip around my friends neighborhood. They don't even begin to show the true scope of the damage. I can't imagine the force it took to rip up all those trees at once...

A majority of the city lost power, and is still without actually. Taking my photos there were still huge trees lying right on power lines...

Thank you, I would never take Mama for granted, but she never whipped me up a batch like that before!

originally posted by: KawRider9
Yeah, that storm was crazy! Upper 90's and humid as hell. So humid your eyes were foggy. And then....

I was outside putting a new mirror on a truck when the wind started picking up. I said, oh man, that feels good. Got the mirror on, grabbed my tools, turned around and was shocked that the sky was black. Looked like a wall of doom!

By the time I threw the broken mirror away, put my tools up and headed back outside, the storm was here and ugly. I'm four miles from where the tornado that ripped Washington apart early this year. It looked just like that day!

Me and a couple employees went outside to cool off in the rain. Well, that didn't last long. The wind and rain got so strong I wasn't sure if we were going to make it back into the shop. I was 100% sure the tornado sirens were about to go off and we were in for a hell of a ride.

This was the first storm where I got spooked and didn't take pics and I've been through several tornados. Wicked, wicked storm!

At least it's cooled way down. The heat and humidity has been kickin' my butt!

Yep, black wall of doom... instant deluge and temperature drop... insane wind: it's all there, haha.

Yesterdays weather was a very large system, but the cell with the microburst was very very small and isolated. It was ahead of the larger system, and towns next to Elgin reported no damage, had no idea.

And it sure did cool down! It was freezing cold after that thing came through. It's mid 70s now.

originally posted by: VegHead
Wow - thanks for sharing your story. That was really intense! Glad you guys made it. It's a shame to see those beautiful old trees snapped apart like that. Looks like a lovely neighborhood.

Below is a picture from the storm yesterday showing the Chicago skyline... eerie!

(this shot came from the linked article, I didn't take it)


Good luck with clean-up efforts. I hope everyone continues to be safe, downed trees and powerlines can be dangerous even after the storm has passed.

Yep, no injuries reported despite the police/firefighter sirens that went off everywhere immediately afterwards. Just incredibly lucky.

The trees... That's what makes it all so significant to me. There are huge, healthy, and very strong trees uprooted, ripped in half, blown apart by lightning, just knocked over throughout the whole city. Those trees have stood there hundreds of years through tons of weather, but not this...

originally posted by: kaylaluv
Amazing! You hear stories where people are killed in freak accidents that shouldn't kill a person, then you hear stories like yours where a person should have died but didn't - makes you think that when it's your time, it's your time - and when it's not your time, it just ain't gonna happen.

Definitely. I think about those kinds of "chance" fortunes and misfortunes. Synchronicity is present all the time, how could there not be something more underlying this life??

I do get a deeper feeling of purpose from this encounter, which I was having some difficulty with beforehand, conveniently. I'm glad I posted it.

originally posted by: Fylgje
Me and my family got caught out in a powerful storm like this a couple years ago. It was crazy. Cars were over-turned and huge trees down everywhere. It was a bizarre-looking storm. I watched it come in. The clouds were black as soot. I've never seen anything like that in my 43 years on earth and neither has anyone else who seen it. Someone in the neighborhood was grilling out at the time and he said his grill flew away and he was left standing there with a spatula in his hand. He said it was a powerful downburst that happened so fast that he barely had time to react.He ran inside for his life.

Glad you guys are okay. Thanks for sharing

Wow, sounds like you can relate. The weather is getting worse than we've seen in our generations. People are going to start being very afraid unless they break away from the "record-based" mentality. Everything is record breaking these days, so if fractional statistics and the past is what people are basing their worldview on... well I don't think they are going to have a good time.

didn't Detroit just get it's ass kicked by the same storm?....360,000 people without power, 75 mile an hour winds....hurricane weather without the hurrricane

originally posted by: Meldionne1
Mother Nature is no joke! ....never take her for granted, and people don't pay attention to the weather as much as they should ....or nature.....the art of reading nature is becoming a lost trait. My grandparents taught me to pay attention to the animals and nature. Birds especially can give signs of impending doom. ....OP, the insects you saw acting weird was a Sign of danger,and that nature is about to let lose.

Same here. I always do it, always watching the clouds, feeling the wind. I couldn't help but notice the animals too. I even pointed out to Rick how the birds and squirrels were all bunched together well before the storm came in. It was all just very strange, and then the microburst hit. I can attest to that first hand.

originally posted by: TXRabbit
crazy story my man. Glad you are ok.
I must also commend you on your writing. Very well-worded, structured and grammatically correct

Thanks for the regards and the compliment. I love to write.

originally posted by: opethPA
Damn ! Glad to hear you are okay.
Can't have an Opeth fan plus someone with the O inked on them like me getting hurt!
I haven't experienced anything like that and after looking at the pics and reading what you said I hope i dont.

OPETH was watching over us

a reply to: Aqualung2012

I actually live in Algonquin, ten minutes north of Elgin and I remember this storm for us it was just a gentle rain.

a reply to: moeron60

Exactly. Area wise this was a tiny storm, but huge in force.

originally posted by: Aqualung2012
a reply to: Aqualung2012

It may be noteworthy that this morning on my back porch I noticed ants and flies moving together in a strange cluster. Then later I noticed the bizarre clustering again but wasps, ladybugs, and ants on a tree all huddled together... I had even mentioned it to my friend, but since neither of us knew what to make of it, we just over-looked it. Probably nothing, just caught my attention.

Great story, well written! And pictures to boot! Super thread!

As for the ants ... I know for certain that here in Texas ... when a tropical storm or hurricane is coming in ... one of the many signs I see consistently are the fire ants climbing wooden posts and/or tree trunks. Another sign I see consistently is an enlarged number of animals crossing the road ... lots more than usual but not lots as in "rush hour traffic" hordes of them ... just LOTS more than usual. Last, certain trees here turn their leaves against the storm - in advance.

Never discount what nature shows you ... it always is "something" but it takes observance over time to determine what it is they are showing you ... there's a reason they are moving to higher ground ... their burrows, mounds, nest areas etc. get flooded.

Bird chirps and flockings are another good indicator ... they gather to a safe area usually.

That happeneed to me year before last. Had to pick up my son up for karate, was bright and sunny, next thing its coming down so hard you really couldnt see the front of your car! As we were driving, a power line was ripped off a pole and dropped down RIGHT in front of us! All this time, trees are being ripped out of the ground, my son is crying, I'm dropping cinder blocks out of my shorts. I had to keep him calm, so outwardly I was calm, but screaming like a little girl inside LOL.
We puled into a parking lot away from trees powerlines and poles and waited it to let up. Then it started hailing.
The storm from beginning to end lasted about 30 mins.
I found out in the days after, mini tornadoes landed all around town. Was a pretty bad storm.