Ottawa,IL Tornado 2/28/17 | dynamicweatheragency

Ottawa, IL Tornado 2/28/17, EF3

After an already active January, February was not showing any signs of letting up. On a recorded breaking trend for tornadoes, on February 28, 2017, the atmosphere came together bringing ample instability, strong wind shear, rich low-level moisture, which led to 50 confirmed tornadoes across IL, MO, AR, MI, IA, IN, KY, and KS. The two tornadoes we documented during our chase occurred in LaSalle County in northwestern Illinois. The first tornado was an EF0 with a path of 1.75miles and the second was a large EF3 with a path length of 11.5 miles and a max-width if 800yards. This violent EF3 tornado killed 2 people and injured 14 others. Prior to February 28th, 2017, there had only been one tornado during the month of February on record (since 1950) in the NWS Chicago County Warning Area (CWA).