This video of Wednesday's devastating Chesterton, Indiana tornado was forwarded to us late Thursday from its photographer Paul Ronjak. A National Weather Service survey team investigating the widespread damage in the northwest Indiana community confirmed Thursday that a tornado--not straight line winds---had caused the destruction in Chesterton. The team categorized the damage as consistent with an EF2 twister possessing peak winds of 120 m.p.h. Its damage path was 60 yards wide and 2.5 miles long, according to NWS investigators. Paul Ronjak tells us this video of the storm was shot near Indian Boundary Road and Rt. 49 as the storm churned into Chesterton downing huge trees and ripping roofs off buildings. It clearly shows the rotating wall cloud beneath which the tornado developed. A Weather Bug sensor in Chesterton had measured a 105 m.p.h. gust as the storm hit Wednesday evening before going off line. MANY THANKS to Paul for sharing this with us! It's a remarkable piece of tape!
Tom Skilling
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
