Washington, Illinois Tornado Debris Found 95 Miles Away (INTERACTIVE)

By: By Jon Erdman

Published: November 18,2013

Interactive map showing location of the Washington, Ill. tornado on Nov. 17, 2013. The dollar sign icon indicates where a check from Washington was found. The mail icon shows where mail and part of a birth certificate from the tornado-ravaged city was found.The Weather Channel Facebook friend Zach Radecki found quite a surprise in suburban Chicago.

Check from Washington, Ill. found in Romeoville, Ill. White and black markings added to protect identity of the owner. (Credit: Zach Radecki via Facebook)

"I work at (a) warehouse in Romeoville. (I) found this blank check addressed from Washington, Ill.," said Radecki in his Facebook post.
We have the direct flight of that tornado debris plotted in the interactive map above. According to Google Maps, Romeoville is about 95 miles northeast of Washington, Ill.
(MORE: News | Interactive Map | Photos)
That's not the only lofted debris that was found.
According to the Peoria Journal-Star, a man found mail and a piece of a birth certificate in Channahon, Ill. about 80 miles northeast of Washington, Ill.
This is not unusual.
Debris lofted by a strong, long-track tornado can be carried over 100 miles downstream by the tornado itself, or strong winds just a few thousand feet above the ground.
The debris can actually be detected by radar.
(MORE: Tornado debris as seen by radar)
In fact, there have been several recent examples:

• A study of 934 pieces of lofted debris in the April 2011 Superoutbreak found one item traveled 220 miles.
• A scrapbook page from a Paynesville, Ind. home wrecked by an EF4 tornado was found 90 miles away in Florence, Ky. after a Mar. 2, 2012 outbreak. Debris was reported falling out of the sky over the Cincinnati metro.
• A canceled check from a demolished home in Joplin, Mo. after the May 2011 EF5 tornado was found 150 miles away in Waynesville.
• Over 15,000 vehicles, including buses, semis and vans were tossed over 200 yards to several blocks in the Joplin tornado. Some of these were compressed, wrapped around trees, or rolled into balls.
• An April 11, 1911 tornado in the plains of Kansas and Nebraska deposited a check 223 miles away.
• Pieces of a mattress, coasted in ice high in the parent thunderstorm, were deposited in Boston Harbor 40 miles downstream from the Worcester, Mass. tornado of Jun. 9, 1953.

In the mid-1990s, the Tornado Debris Project, headed by Dr. John Snow, gathered public data on lofted debris.
Over 50 reports of downstream debris were received by the group following a May 7, 1995 tornado in north Texas and southern Oklahoma, including a men's jacket (20 miles away), a golf course flag (43 miles away), and, again, a canceled check (125 miles away).
  
MORE: Midwest Severe Weather Photos

38 / 182

A person stands amongst damaged buildings along Washington Road in the aftermath of a tornado on Nov. 18, 2013 in Washington, Ill. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)