Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2004
F1 tornado, Neponset, Illinois, June 10, 2004
This F1 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Bureau County on June 10, 2004, touching down at 5:30 PM CDT and reaching 125 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 of property damage.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.
The record
- Rating
- F1
- Date
- June 10, 2004
- Touchdown
- 5:30 PM CDT (22:30 UTC)
- Path length
- 0.3 miles (0.5 km)
- Path width
- 125 yards (114 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $10,000
- County
- Bureau County
- Touchdown point
- 41.270, -89.830
- Lift-off point
- 41.280, -89.830
- Record number
- 380
What the Weather Service recorded
A small supercell produced two tornadoes in quick succession during the afternoon of 10 June 2004. The first (1628-1629 CST) touched down near the intersection of Kentville Rd and 150 East. The Snyder farm lost several outbuildings with damage done to the roof of the farm house and a window blown out with 3 semi trailers tossed onto their sides. Across the road at the VanWinkle farm, a window was blown out and the roof was lifted and set back down with more outbuildings destroyed. The tornado dissipated near the intersection of Kentville Rd and 200 East. The second tornado (1630-1631 CST) developed just north of the first and affected an area just west and east of 200 East Street. The Stabler farm had several windows blown out.
Winds estimated around 100 mph.
Winds estimated around 100 mph.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
1 minute of warning. NWS DVN issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:29 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:15 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22:29 UTC | 23:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | DVN |
| 23:15 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | DVN |
| 00:14 UTC | 00:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | DVN |
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 forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:13 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.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Quad Cities, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Jun 10, 4:15 PM CDT, 1 hour 15 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 10, 4:15 PM CDT, 1 hour 15 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 415 PM CDT THU JUN 10 2004 .SYNOPSIS...STATIONARY FRONT ACROSS IOWA INTO NORTHERN ILLINOIS TO REMAIN THERE OVERNIGHT. THUNDERSTORM COMPLEX TO DEVELOP IN THE PLAINS TONIGHT TO ARRIVE LATE TONIGHT BRINGING ANOTHER ROUND OF RAIN. THUNDERSTORMS TO REDEVELOP IN THE AFTERNOON FRIDAY WITH DAYTIME HEATING. POTENTIAL DOES EXIST LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FOR SEVERE STORMS TO DEVELOP. && .SHORT TERM...(TONIGHT AND FRIDAY)... STATIONARY FRONT ACROSS THE EXTREME NORTH PART OF THE CWFA TO REMAIN THERE OVERNIGHT. MODELS INDICATE AN MCS TO FIRE TONIGHT BUT THE QUESTION IS WHERE. LIKELY AREA TO BE IN NEBRASKA WHERE THE LLJ IS THE STRONGEST AND THEN MOVE ROUGHLY ALONG THE FRONT BRUSHING THE NORTHERN CWFA LATE TONIGHT AND FRIDAY MORNING. MODELS HAVE MANY SUBTLE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM ON FRIDAY. HOWEVER ALL AGREE ON THE ATMOSPHERE DRYING OUT DURING THE DAY. IF PLENTY OF DIURNAL HEATING CAN TAKE PLACE...THUNDERSTORMS TO FIRE AGAIN DURING THE AFTERNOON. FAVORABLE SHEAR PROFILES INDICATE STORMS WILL BE ROTATING. KEY FACTOR IS WILL THERE BE AN OUTFLOW BOUNDARY OVER THE AREA. IF THERE IS ONE...POTENTIAL THEN EXISTS FOR SIGNIFICANT SEVERE STORMS TO DEVELOP DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON HOURS. IN HOUSE CALCULATIONS SUGGEST POTENTIAL OF STRAIGHT LINE WINDS OVER 80 MPH WITH BASEBALL SIZED HAIL IF TEMPS CAN GET INTO THE UPPER 80S WITH DEW POINTS AROUND 73. TORNADO COULD ALSO OCCUR WITH POTENTIAL RANGING FROM F1 TO F3. HOWEVER...ONCE AGAIN...THIS IS ALL DEPENDENT ON AN OUTFLOW BOUNDARY BEING OVER THE AREA AND HOW MUCH HEATING CAN TAKE PLACE DURING THE DAY. IF NO OUTFLOW BOUNDARY IS PRESENT AND IF HEATING ONLY GETS US INTO THE LOWER 80S...SEVERE POTENTIAL TO BE GREATLY REDUCED IF NOT ELIMINATED. ...08... .LONG TERM... (SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY)... MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT THAT H5 S/W AND WEAK SURFACE WAVE WILL MOVE THROUGH CWA FRIDAY NIGHT. ETA FCST SOUNDINGS ARE SHOWING VERY UNSTABLE AIR AHEAD OF THE SYSTEM WITH CAPES OVER 3K J/KG AT KBRL BY LATE AFTERNOON. WITH AMOUNT OF INSTABILITY AND GOOD MID LEVEL FORCING...EXPECT A SEVERE WEATHER EVENT FOR THE CWA FRIDAY EVENING. CURRENT THINKING HERE IS THAT LINEAR WIND PROFILES DURING THE EVENING SUGGEST A DAMAGING WIND EVENT AS A SQUALL LINE SWEEPS ACROSS THE CWA. LARGE HAIL WILL ALSO BE A THREAT AS MID LEVELS DRY SIGNIFICANTLY THE NEXT 24 HOURS. SYSTEM SHOULD MOVE TO OUR EAST BY SATURDAY MORNING AND WILL HOLD ON LINGERING SHRA WORDING IN THE NERN SECTIONS. MORE S/W ENERGY MOVES OUT OF THE MEAN MID LEVEL WRN U.S. TROF SATURDAY EVENING. BOTH THE ETA AND THE GFS SHOW A SURFACE LOW DEVELOPING OVER CNTRL KS AHEAD OF THE S/W BY SATURDAY EVENING. FLOW AHEAD OF THE DEVELOPING LOW WILL FOCUS LOW LEVEL MOISTURE CONVERGENCE OVER NERN KS/SERN NE CREATING THE POTENTIAL FOR MCS DEVELOPMENT SATURDAY NIGHT. MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT SHIFTING MEAN H5 TROF EAST INTO THE PLAINS BY SUNDAY...BUT ARE HAVING TROUBLE RESOLVING SMALL SCALE FEATURES MOVING THROUGH THE BASE OF THE TROUGH. FOR NOW WILL GO WITH A BROAD BRUSH 30 POPS FOR SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY. LONG TERM...(TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY)... MODELS DIFFERENCES BECOME MORE APPARENT BY MIDWEEK WITH RESPECT TO VARIOUS SOLUTIONS ON HOW THE MID LEVEL FLOW EVOLVES DURING THE PERIOD. WITH LITTLE CONSISTENCY BETWEEN MODELS WILL STAY CLOSE TO PREVIOUS FORECAST KEEPING DRY WEATHER FOR TUESDAY AND CHANCE POPS FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK. && .DVN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IA...NONE. IL...NONE. MO...NONE. && DLF
Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 10, 4:00 PM CDT, 1 hour 30 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 400 PM CDT THU JUN 10 2004 IAZ040>042-051>054-063>068-076>078-087>089-098-099-ILZ001-002-007- 009-015>018-024>026-034-035-MOZ009-010-111000- BENTON IA-BUCHANAN IA-BUREAU IL-CARROLL IL-CEDAR IA-CLARK MO- CLINTON IA-DELAWARE IA-DES MOINES IA-DUBUQUE IA-HANCOCK IL- HENDERSON IL-HENRY IA-HENRY IL-IOWA IA-JACKSON IA-JEFFERSON IA- JO DAVIESS IL-JOHNSON IA-JONES IA-KEOKUK IA-LEE IA-LINN IA-LOUISA IA- MCDONOUGH IL-MERCER IL-MUSCATINE IA-PUTNAM IL-ROCK ISLAND IL- SCOTLAND MO-SCOTT IA-STEPHENSON IL-VAN BUREN IA-WARREN IL- WASHINGTON IA-WHITESIDE IL- 400 PM CDT THU JUN 10 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST IOWA... EAST CENTRAL IOWA...SOUTHEAST IOWA...NORTHWEST ILLINOIS...NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS...WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND NORTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS OVER SOUTHEAST IOWA...WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND NORTHEAST MISSOURI WILL PRODUCE SOME LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN AND WIND GUSTS OF 30 TO 40 MPH THIS EVENING. A WEAK ISOLATED TORNADO WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE ALONG AND SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 34 AS THUNDERSTORMS INTERACT WITH A WEAK SURFACE BOUNDARY OVER SOUTHEAST IOWA INTO WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS. THE THREAT OF ANY TORNADO DEVELOPMENT SHOULD END BY MID EVENING. ANOTHER ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE LATE TONIGHT...MAINLY ALONG AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN WILL BE POSSIBLE AS THE STORMS MOVE EAST ALONG A FRONT STALLED OVER EAST CENTRAL IOWA AND NORTHERN ILLINOIS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS PORTIONS OF EASTERN IOWA AND NORTHWEST ILLINOIS LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND FRIDAY NIGHT. STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP IN WESTERN AND CENTRAL IOWA FRIDAY AFTERNOON...AS AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE INTERACTS WITH A STALLED OUT FRONT OVER THE REGION. OTHER ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS MAY FORM OVER EASTERN IOWA...ALONG THE STATIONARY FRONT DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON HOURS. THERE WILL BE ENOUGH INSTABILITY AND WIND SHEAR...DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING HOURS...TO ALLOW SOME STORMS TO BECOME SUPERCELLS. THESE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING VERY LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND TORNADOES. BY EVENING...THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO FORM INTO A SQUALL LINE AND MOVE THROUGH MUCH OF EASTERN IOWA AND NORTHWEST ILLINOIS. DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL...AND A FEW TORNADOES MAY OCCUR WITH THESE STORMS THROUGH LATE EVENING. THE GREATEST RISK FOR ANY TORNADOES WILL BE ALONG AND JUST NORTH OF THE STATIONARY FRONT. AT THIS TIME...THIS FRONT IS EXPECTED TO BE FROM CEDAR RAPIDS...TO DAVENPORT...TO PRINCETON ILLINOIS FRIDAY AFTERNOON. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...OR LOCAL MEDIA FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON THIS POTENTIAL SEVERE WEATHER EVENT. MORE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY...AND AGAIN TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS POSSIBLE OVER NORTHWEST ILLINOIS TODAY...AND MAY BE NEEDED OVER EASTERN IOWA AND NORTHWEST ILLINOIS LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND FRIDAY NIGHT. REA/ERVIN/DLF
The surface observations
Lacon (C75), 47 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:44 UTC | 77 | 71.6 | 130° 9 kt | 1011.2 | ||
| 21:04 UTC | 80.6 | 73.4 | 130° 9 kt | 1010.8 | ||
| 21:24 UTC | 80.6 | 73.4 | 140° 9 kt | 1010.8 | VCTS | |
| 21:44 UTC | 78.8 | 71.6 | 120° 6 kt | 1010.2 | ||
| 22:04 UTC | 77 | 73.4 | 200° 11 kt | 21 | 1010.2 | -TSRA |
| 22:24 UTC | 77 | 73.4 | 160° 7 kt | 1010.2 | -TSRA | |
| 22:44 UTC | 77 | 73.4 | 130° 6 kt | 1010.2 | ||
| 23:04 UTC | 77 | 73.4 | 120° 8 kt | 1009.5 | ||
| 23:25 UTC | 77 | 71.6 | 110° 7 kt | 1009.1 | VCTS | |
| 23:44 UTC | 77 | 73.4 | 120° 8 kt | 1009.5 | ||
| 00:04 UTC | 75.2 | 69.8 | 140° 11 kt | 15 | 1009.8 | VCTS |
| 00:24 UTC | 73.4 | 69.8 | 130° 7 kt | 1008.8 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 73 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:29 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.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2004 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 10, 2004
19 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 10 | 2:00 PM CDT | F0 | Champaign, IL | 0.7 | 10 | |||
| June 10 | 2:20 PM CDT | F0 | Champaign, IL | 0.5 | 10 | |||
| June 10 | 2:38 PM CDT | F1 | Champaign, IL | 3.0 | 30 | $10,000 | ||
| June 10 | 2:57 PM CDT | F0 | Vermilion, IL | 3.5 | 10 | |||
| June 10 | 2:26 PM MDT | F0 | Box Butte, NE | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| June 10 | 2:35 PM MDT | F0 | Sedgwick, CO | 0.5 | 50 | |||
| June 10 | 2:41 PM MDT | F1 | Deuel, NE | 10.0 | 220 | 2 | $70,000 | |
| June 10 | 3:25 PM MDT | F0 | Sheridan, WY | 3.6 | 100 | |||
| June 10 | 3:40 PM MDT | F0 | Keith, NE | 0.1 | 20 | $10,000 | ||
| June 10 | 4:05 PM MDT | F0 | Keith, NE | 0.5 | 20 | |||
| June 10 | 4:15 PM MDT | F0 | Arthur, NE | 0.6 | 20 | $30,000 | ||
| June 10 | 5:28 PM CDT | F1 | Bureau, IL | 0.3 | 125 | $10,000 | ||
| June 10 | 4:53 PM MDT | F1 | Stanley, SD | 1.0 | 400 | |||
| June 10 | 5:55 PM CDT | F0 | Woodford, IL | 0.1 | 10 | |||
| June 10 | 5:00 PM MDT | F0 | Arthur, NE | 0.2 | 20 | |||
| June 10 | 6:55 PM CDT | F0 | Lincoln, NE | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| June 10 | 7:32 PM CDT | F0 | Thomas, KS | 0.3 | 50 | |||
| June 10 | 9:49 PM CDT | F1 | Webster, NE | 12.0 | 300 | $500,000 | ||
| June 10 | 11:05 PM CDT | F0 | Howard, NE | 1.0 | 100 | $40,000 |
What this means
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.
Sources
NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.