May 24-25, 1896, Severe Weather Outbreak

Overview

During the evening and overnight hours of May 24-25, 1896, a severe weather outbreak occurred across portions of Iowa and Illinois. This outbreak of severe weather included reports of wind damage, tornadoes, hail, and flash flooding. In northern Illinois, likely tornadoes occurred near Monroe Center, Chicago, and Kankakee with numerous areas of wind damage reported by newspapers, some of which may have been tornadoes. Across Iowa and Illinois, approximately 30 fatalities and almost 100 injuries occurred.

This outbreak of severe weather was part of a larger cluster of severe weather outbreaks occurring in late May of 1896. Other notable severe weather during this period included a deadly tornado near Sherman, Texas, on May 15, a deadly tornado in northern Kansas on May 17, a deadly tornado in southeastern Michigan the following day, and the infamous St. Louis tornado a few days later. In total, at least 500 people were killed and 2000 injured by severe weather across the country.

Severe Weather Impacts

Map of regional storm reports from the May 24-25, 1896 severe weather outbreak.

Map of known areas of storm damage in the Chicago area and northeastern Illinois from the May 24-25, 1896 severe weather outbreak.

Map showing the tornado in northern Ogle, southern Winnebago, and northwestern DeKalb counties.		Map showing the tornado in Cook County in Chicago and immediate northwestern suburbs.

During the overnight hours of May 24-25, 1896, storms moved through north central and northeastern Illinois, producing widespread damage. Around 12:00 AM, a likely tornado touched down south of Rockford, near New Milford. This tornado moved generally eastward causing damage to numerous farms. At one farm near the Winnebago-Ogle county line, a house was destroyed killing several members of the same family and injuring a few others.

Around 1:00 AM, storms reached the Elgin area. A corridor of significant straight line wind damage moved from west-southwest to east-northeast across the southern part of down, damaging numerous farm outbuildings, damaging multiple homes, destroying parts of the Elgin Sewing Machine and Bicycle Company, knocking down telegraph poles, and uprooting numerous trees. Although nearly impossible to determine with certainty, a portion of this corridor of damage may have been caused by a brief tornado. This storm continued to move to the east, reaching the then far northwest side of Chicago around 2:00 AM. A tornado touched down in a rural area near the Des Plaines River (today’s city of Des Plaines) and moved generally eastward. This tornado moved through an area known as Canfield-on-the-Hill, now known as Edison Park and Norwood Park community areas of Chicago. This tornado damaged multiple buildings, including the English Episcopal, German Methodist, and Bethany Evangelical churches. The tornado continued to the east along the northern boundary of Chicago, uprooting trees and damaging some branches. The tornado lifted near Lincolnwood and the North Park community area of Chicago, but the associated storm continued east, causing wind damage in the West Ridge, Rogers Park, Edgewater, and Lincoln Square community areas. Near Rosehill Cemetery, multiple trees were snapped or uprooted. Near Summerdale (a small neighborhood with railroad depot now a part of Lincoln Square and Edgewater community areas), a house was destroyed. Two additional houses were damaged in the Ravenswood community area.

Another path of damaging winds moved from the west-northwest to the east-southeast across parts of rural DuPage County south of Downers Grove (today’s southern Downers Grove and Darien). Multiple barns were damaged and trees uprooted. A portion of this corridor of damage may have been caused by a brief tornado.

The slow movement of a single line of storms or multiple waves of separate storms caused heavy rainfall in multiple areas, leading to flash flooding and river flooding. Near McGregor, Iowa, flash flooding in the steep valleys of Bloody Run and the Little Maquoketa River caused numerous fatalities. Overnight flooding of the Galena River at Galena, Illinois, killed one person after flood waters caused a home to collapse. Additional flash flooding was reported near Freeport, Mt. Carroll, Leaf River, Oregon, Dixon, Earlville, East/West Dundee, Elgin, Aurora, and Chicago. Newspaper reports also indicated multiple fires due to lightning strikes across the region.

How were damage locations determined?

No official storm reporting infrastructure is known to have existed in the 1800s. Reports of damage had to be pulled from a detailed review of newspaper articles (some digitized, and some on microfilm). Due to the limited information available, it is likely that we will never know for certain the full extent of damage from this event, the exact start and end point for each tornado, or the exact causes of damage for each area impacted on May 24-25, 1896.

Determining the location of damage in the Norwood Park area of Chicago was particularly challenging. Few detailed maps of the Norwood Park area are known to exist from the time of the tornado. Newspaper accounts of damage only rarely indicated specific addresses or nearby roadway intersections, and many roadway names in Norwood Park changed after being annexed into Chicago.

Without the help of detailed storm surveys, determining the cause of wind damage was difficult. As with many historical accounts of severe weather from the 1800s and early 1900s, sources often conflict, with some saying damage was caused by a tornado while others indicate a “gale” or “wind storm” or even “hurricane.” Newspaper accounts and other sources may provide clues to whether wind damage was likely tornadic or due to straight line winds. Descriptions of damage in central Iowa, for example, mentioned snapped trees with all branches removed as well as debarking, indicative of wind speeds often higher than those seen with straight line winds. Descriptions of damage between Monroe Center and New Milford indicate debris falling miles away from the source, which is sometimes seen with tornadoes but rarely seen with straight line winds. Other descriptions indicate narrow damage corridors of just a few hundred yards, outside of which no damage occurred, often seen with tornadoes. Near Chicago, staff from the US Weather Bureau (today’s National Weather Service) actually surveyed the damage path and noted the direction that debris was blown or that trees uprooted. Maps of this damage showed the convergent damage signature typical with tornadoes. 

Map of damage pattern and for the Norwood Park, Chicago, area tornado based upon a survey conducted US Weather Bureau (today’s National Weather Service). Arrows show known direction of tree fall or debris movement. From the Geographic Society of Chicago and The Weather and Climate of Chicago by H.J. Cox & J.H. Armington.

Newspapers reviewed for this analysis include:

• Aurora Beacon

• Aurora Daily Express

• Aurora News Semi-Weekly

• Elgin Daily News

• Elgin Democrat

• Rockford Daily Register Gazette

• Rockford Republic

• Rockford Morning Star

• Chicago Tribune

• Chicago Eagle

• Cresco Plain Dealer

• Decorah Public Opinion

• Des Moines Leader

• Iowa State Bystander

• Dixon Evening Telegraph

• Elgin Daily News

• Joliet Daily Republican

• Rock Island Argus

• Downers Grove Reporter

• Kankakee Gazette

• Oskaloosa Herald

• Woodstock Sentinel

• Harvard Herald

• Ottawa Free Trader

• Marengo Republican

Meteorology and Environment

[Estimated surface weather maps will be added at a later date]

Estimated upper air data from the 20th Century Reanalysis V3 dataset indicates significant instability and wind shear around sunset in central Iowa, about the time of the significant tornado just north of Des Moines. In addition, a very high atmospheric moisture content was present from Iowa eastward into northern Illinois. Although storms would generally have become more elevated by around midnight, estimated upper air data continued to indicate instability and wind shear favorable for severe weather closer to the Iowa-Illinois state line. The warm and humid air mass noted across Iowa during the day of May 24 drifted to the east by May 25, causing an increase in the estimated wind shear and elevated instability during the overnight hours.

Modeled Skew-T diagram from the 20th Century Reanalysis dataset valid for Des Moines, IA, at 6:00 PM on May 24 (0000 UTC on May 25). Note the significant instability, winds turning with increased height above ground level, and high levels of atmospheric moisture.		Modeled Skew-T diagram from the 20th Century Reanalysis dataset valid for Dubuque, IA, at 12:00 AM on May 25 (0600 UTC). Note the instability, winds turning with increased height above ground level, and high levels of atmospheric moisture that each continued into the overnight hours.

While information from reanalysis datasets can provide some information about the environmental conditions on May 24-25, 1896, the upper air conditions will never be known with high confidence due to the lack of weather balloons. Information about surface weather conditions is also uncertain due to the relatively low number of surface weather observations, as well as the lack of radars and satellites. The indicated depiction of surface weather features such as low pressure, high pressure, and frontal boundaries were first digitized by using the original paper weather maps published in 1896. The location of weather features were then adjusted to reflect additional observations retrieved for primary U.S Weather Bureau (today’s National Weather Service) sites and volunteer cooperative observers. Despite attempts to improve the surface weather analysis, uncertainty remains. If additional information becomes available from newspapers or weather journals, the best estimate of surface weather conditions occurring on this date could be updated.

Advancements

Weather forecasting and weather warnings were very different in 1896 compared to today. Weather maps of the time lacked information about cold fronts, warm fronts, and instead just indicated general areas of low and high pressure. The only weather observations at the time were taken by official Signal Service observers at major cities, by Army employees at forts, and by volunteer private observers. These observations were often just taken a few times a day. The only information that can be ascertained about storm movement and speed from events in 1896 has to be estimated from the times of occurrence written down by observers, if they exist. No organized system existed for telegraphing neighboring cities when severe weather occurred. Watches and warnings for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes generally did not begin in the United States until the mid-1900s.

More information about advancements in weather forecasting and weather warnings since the 1800s can be found in the "Advancements" section of this page.

The US Signal Service daily weather map for May 25, 1896, at 8:00 AM central time. Note the distance between most observation locations and the lack of many surface weather features we are accustomed to on modern weather maps.

Accounts

[Newspaper accounts and photos will be added at a later date]

Photo showing damage to the Bethany Evangelical Church in the Norwood Park community area of Chicago. The church was located near today's intersection of Harlem Avenue and Clarence Avenue. Photo from the Norwood Park Historical Society.

Additional Information

Links:

• Other historic Chicago area weather events from the 1800s:
  • May 6, 1876, Chicago storm
  • May 22, 1855, Des Plaines Tornado Story Map
  • The Great Chicago Fire of 1871
• NWS Chicago Past Events Page