Severe Storms In New Lenox Leave Downed Trees, Power Lines In Wake

NEW LENOX, IL — Wednesday's storm system that swept through New Lenox was swift and brief, but the damage it left in its wake will take some time to recover from.

All over social media, New Lenox residents have been posting photos of downed trees and power lines in their yards and driveways caused by the storm across the north side of New Lenox. But what caused the intense winds that created all the havoc?

Dan Casper, who runs Manhattan Weather Channel, said that what New Lenox residents experienced could have been what is known as a microburst.

Casper explained that a microburst happens when a storm collapses in on itself, causing sudden downward and outward winds at high speeds — somewhere in the area of 80-100 mph — toppling large trees and other objects in the microburst's path.

One indicator that the storm system produced a microburst is the direction in which the trees were found to be lying in the aftermath, with some lying facing east and others facing west and northwest, Casper said.

"It pretty much laid a circle out where the center was, and when the microburst busts, the winds blow in all different directions," he said. "So, when it comes down, it hits the ground and pushes out in basically a circle. And that's basically what happened in New Lenox."

The New Lenox Fire Protection District said it received about eight to 10 calls for service related to the storm, and that those calls originated in areas around Cedar Road north to Francis Road, and in the area of Parker Road to the west up to U.S. Route 6.

The New Lenox Fire Protection District said no injuries were reported.

New Lenox resident Clifford Toosley told Patch he's lived in the village for about 60 years and has never seen anything like Wednesday's storm.

Toosley's home, in the 100 block of Wood Street, was struck by a toppled evergreen tree about 40-feet to 50-feet tall, causing damage to his roof.

"[The tree] had a base of about 4 feet in diameter, and [the winds] ripped it right out of the ground," Toosley said. "It hit the roof and took the corner right off of the roof."

If there's any good news about Wednesday's possible microburst it's that, while they do happen suddenly, those occurrences are not too common, Casper said.

"They're not everyday, common things," Casper said. "They do happen every summer somewhere in the area. A thunderstorm will do this somewhere in the area. It's about as common as a derecho. So, you don't see them that often."

The Manhattan Weather Channel is an ambassador to the National Weather Service's Weather Ready Nation, which works to get weather alerts out to areas that do not get a lot of major media coverage.

"In instances like [Wednesday's storm], if the National Weather Service puts out a warning, our job is to help them get that warning out to the public because if the public does not hear about these warnings, the warnings mean absolutely nothing."

Readers can follow Manhattan Weather Channel on Facebook to get realtime weather alerts when they happen in the Lincoln-Way area.