F1 tornado, Waterloo to Hecker, Illinois, May 18, 1995

1. F040 to 72 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. F3158 to 206 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. F5261 to 318 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

F1

Date

May 18, 1995

Touchdown

12:37 PM CDT (17:37 UTC)

Path length

0.6 miles (1.0 km)

Path width

83 yards (76 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$50,000 to $500,000

County

Monroe County

Touchdown point

38.330, -90.150

Record number

440

A tornado briefly touched down on the western side of town and lifted the roof off a business. In one area where several homes were damaged, a recreational vehicle was picked up and set down in the middle of a destroyed house. Trees and large branches were also downed and large hail was also reported by local law enforcement.

A tornado initially touched down at the intersection of Mayestown and Koch Roads then heavily damaged the second story of a brick home. Several farm buildings were flattened as well. The tornado tracked northeast and crossed the intersection of County Road KK and Rock Road. Four farm buildings and two homes sustained varying degrees of damage including broken windows and sections of roofs torn off. Before the tornado lifted, it damaged several large trees.

A tornado touched down near the intersection of Fischer and Rock Roads and moved northeast. Two homes sustained minor roof damage, a number of farm buildings were knocked down, and two grain bins were toppled.

A tornado touched down southwest of Burksville knocking down several trees and power lines. It moved northeast and through the town of Burksville shearing off trees and damaging about 20 homes and businesses. Northeast of town, two farms also sustained damage, including home roofs, barns, and grain bins. The tornado crossed Highway 3 and lifted a few minutes later knocking down trees and power poles.

A tornado touched down southeast of Burksville in open country then traveled through a residential area as it moved northeast. Five homes sustained minor roof damage, although several garages and large utility buildings suffered severe damage where the roof was completely removed or sides of the buildings were knocked out. A farm implement store and storage building were also heavily damaged, with insulation from the store carried 300 yards northeast. Several high tension electrical lines were snapped after the tornado crossed Highway 3.

A tornado touched down along Sportman Road just south of Highway 3 knocking down nearby trees. As the tornado moved northeast, a home and barn were damaged less than a mile northeast of Highway 3. The roof of the home had structural roof damage and debris from the barn was blown 200 to 300 yards to the northeast. The tornado then damaged three homes north of County Road KK and knocked down trees. One farm had a house and barn heavily damaged just south of Highway 156 before the tornado lifted.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

18 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 17:19 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:00 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 62 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:36 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1995 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

78 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 79 of them

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.