Danny posted my videos above, which are my personal best so far in my 3 year chase "career."
Didnt plan on chasing today. Had oral surgery in the morning and spent all afternoon spitting up blood...watching the radar. The initial reports started going up around Dwight but I was not sold based on radar. The cell had appeared to die [which I would later realize it merely occluded the old meso/tornado.]
I noticed at the time that the Midway METAR near where I live was showing 79 over 72...where as Kankakee...about 40 miles south....was 90 over 75. So I thought to myself that this is where the warm front has to be and this storm had the potential to explode on the boundary. So off I went.
Went down 294 to get to I 57, punched through the core and got some brief hail probably no larger than penny, it looked elongated on radar so I felt confident about not driving into a rain wrapped tornado, sure enough I emerged to absolutely stunning structure which can be seen on one of the videos. The striated meso was the best I have ever seen, I was tempted to pinch myself at this point.
Pritchard must have been very near me, as I noticed the rope out/funnel he mentioned directy out my passanger window...knowing the motion was to the NE I went south a bit to find a clearing from the trees, jumped out of my van and sure enough a rather violent looking cone was on the ground [again can be seen in the video]
The tornado crossed I-57 and like Pritchard said, transitioned into a multi vortex wedge type tornado. Due to the extensive damage across I-57 I got stuck in the police block off for an hour and all hope was lost of me keeping up with the storm so I just took some damage photos, from what I heard noone was seriously hurt thankfully.
Probably the most incredible last minute chase Ill ever have, now I know how everyone felt in Oklahoma on 5-24. Since Danny posted my videos I wont link them again, or post stills...
The tornado in its multi vortex stage after crossing the expressway.
Fairy significant damage on the W side of the expressway. Im not sure what these structures were.
Rolled SUV and crowds of people emerging from their vehicles to investigate, many weren't convinced it was a tornado till I showed them my video.
Rolled semi - the driver was ok from what I heard.
Large warehouse type building that received pretty significant damage.
These tornadoes struck a fairly populated area, but just nearly missed greater population densities to the north by only a couple miles. Thankfully I have yet to hear of any loss of life.