PLAINFIELD — Thursday marks 35 years since a powerful tornado tore through Plainfield and nearby communities, killing 29 people, injuring more than 350, and leveling Plainfield High School in what remains the strongest August tornado on record in the United States.
The August 28th, 1990 storm developed over DeKalb County before intensifying near the Fox River and cutting an 18 mile path of destruction through Kendall and Will counties. Entire neighborhoods were flattened, steel beams were driven into trees, and farmland was scoured down to bare soil. The storm’s rain wrapped nature made it difficult for residents to see, leaving many with little or no warning.
Veteran Chicago meteorologist Tom Skilling, who covered the disaster for WGN, recalled his shock at both the storm’s strength and the lack of timely warnings. “I remember sitting at my desk at WGN, and Jim Ramsey called me, he said, Tom, you have no way of knowing this, but I’ve been listening to NewsRadio 78, and they’re saying that Plainfield High School’s been leveled. And I kept watching this, wondering why there weren’t warnings coming out on the thing,” Skilling said.
Damage was so severe that famed tornado researcher Dr. Ted Fujita described it as one of the most destructive tornadoes he had ever investigated. In the aftermath, helicopters surveyed the wreckage, and emergency crews searched debris fields for victims. Survivors reported scenes resembling a war zone, with vehicles tossed across fields and homes reduced to rubble.
The Plainfield disaster accelerated the deployment of Doppler radar at the National Weather Service office in Romeoville, a tool that has since become central to identifying dangerous storm rotation. The storm also spurred improvements in public communication, community preparedness, and research into tornado behavior.
While northern Illinois has endured other destructive storms in the decades since, including the 2015 EF 4 tornado that struck Rochelle and Fairdale, the Plainfield tornado remains a pivotal moment in local severe weather history.
