F0 tornado, Detroit to Glasgow, Illinois, May 26, 2000

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

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

2. F173 to 112 mph

   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

F0

Date

May 26, 2000

Touchdown

11:14 PM CDT (04:14 UTC)

Path length

4.3 miles (6.9 km)

Path width

60 yards (55 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Scott and Pike counties

Touchdown point

39.530, -90.600

Lift-off point

39.530, -90.520

Record number

219

A small tornado downed trees northeast of Milton before crossing the Illinois River into Scott County.

A small tornado downed trees southeast of Milton before crossing the Illinois River into Scott County.

A tornado which formed along the leading edge of a bow echo touched down in Pike County (WFO St. Louis CWA) 2.5 miles southeast of Detroit, then traveled to the east northeast, crossing the Illinois River south of Florence. It moved into Scott County (WFO Central Illinois CWA) 8 miles west southwest of Winchester, but little damage was found in the river bottoms area until the tornado moved up into the bluffs. About four miles west of Winchester, it flattened corn, uprooted several trees, snapped a couple of utility poles, damaged an outbuilding, and caused minor damage to two homes before lifting and dissipating. No injuries were reported.

This tornado formed on the leading edge of a bow echo over extreme eastern portions of Pike County (WFO St. Louis CWA) just north of Bedford, then crossed the Illinois River into Scott County (WFO Central Illinois CWA). It moved east northeast but little damage was found in the river bottoms area. Once the tornado crossed the bluffs 2.3 miles west southwest of Glasgow, scattered damage was found (numerous trees blown over) before it lifted and dissipated 2 miles west southwest of Glasgow.

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

8 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:06 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:45 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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 01:09 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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.

St. Charles (SET), 68 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 93 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:14 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 2000 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

21 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.