Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2006

F0 tornado, Morton, Illinois, June 22, 2006

This F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Tazewell County on June 22, 2006, touching down at 8:13 AM CDT and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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.

  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.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
June 22, 2006
Touchdown
8:13 AM CDT (13:13 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Tazewell County
Touchdown point
40.580, -89.450
Lift-off point
40.580, -89.450
Record number
667

What the Weather Service recorded

The tornado briefly touched down in a field. No damage was reported.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:43 UTC00:23 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchILX
13:02 UTC13:33 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningILX
13:19 UTC13:31 UTCTornado WarningILX

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:27 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 air that afternoon

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.

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 12:00Z

1.2 hours before the tornado, 86 km from the path. June 22, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2006-06-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1783 joules per kilogram, CIN -75, lifted condensation level 1138 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2006-06-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 10 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 28 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1783 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-75 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1037 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1138 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
48 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.7
0-3 km lapse rate
4.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

10.8 hours after it, 86 km from the path. June 23, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2006-06-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 332 joules per kilogram, CIN -26, lifted condensation level 1175 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2006-06-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -19 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 29 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
332 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-26 J/kg
Surface CAPE
549 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1175 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-19 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
14 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
6.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 13:14 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
13:02 UTCTSTM WND GST 60PekinTazewell, IL
13:02 UTCHAIL 0.88PekinTazewell, ILHAIL DURATION 6 MINUTES
13:06 UTCDOWNBURSTPeoriaPeoria, ILPENNY SIZED HAIL REPORTED AT THE INTERSECTION OF I-74 AND WASHINGTON IN PEORIA...TIME ESTIMATED
13:06 UTCTSTM WND GST 60PeoriaPeoria, ILESTIMATED 60 MPH WIND AT THE INTERSECTION OF I-74 AND WASHINGTON IN PEORIA...TIME ESTIMATED
13:06 UTCHAIL 0.75PeoriaPeoria, ILPENNY SIZED HAIL REPORTED AT THE INTERSECTION OF I-74 AND WASHINGTON IN PEORIA...TIME ESTIMATED
13:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGSouth PekinTazewell, IL12 INCH TREE DOWN ON GARAGE.
13:12 UTCTSTM WND DMGPekinTazewell, IL15 INCH TREE DOWN.
13:13 UTCTSTM WND GST 60WashingtonTazewell, ILESTIMATED WIND GUST...FROM SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OBSERVER NETWORK
13:13 UTCTORNADO3 Nne TremontTazewell, ILBRIEF TOUCHDOWN OBSERVED BY TRAINED SPOTTER BETWEEN TREMONT AND MORTON
13:20 UTCTSTM WND GST 601 W MackinawTazewell, ILCIRCUS TENT PARTIALLY DOWN...REPORT FROM MACKINAW COOP
13:25 UTCHAIL 0.75East PeoriaTazewell, ILSOUTH EDGE OF EAST PEORIA.
13:25 UTCHAIL 0.881 N GrovelandTazewell, ILRT 98 AND SPRINGFIELD RD.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 22, 2006

22 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 221:05 PM CDTF0Audrain, MO0.140
June 221:07 PM CDTF1Audrain, MO1.050
June 221:10 PM CDTF0Audrain, MO0.350
June 221:25 PM CDTF0Audrain, MO3.550
June 222:38 PM EDTF0Van Wert, OH0.125$20,000
June 222:43 PM EDTF1Van Wert, OH0.125$10,000
June 222:58 PM EDTF0Van Wert, OH0.125$10,000
June 223:00 PM EDTF0Mercer, OH0.230$20,000
June 222:15 PM CDTF0Pike, MO0.350
June 223:18 PM EDTF1Allen, OH0.150$20,000
June 221:30 PM MDTF0Douglas, CO0.150
June 223:30 PM EDTF0Auglaize, OH0.120$10,000
June 221:32 PM MDTF1Elbert, CO0.1100
June 222:45 PM MDTF0Elbert, CO0.150
June 223:20 PM MDTF0Elbert, CO0.150
June 225:30 PM EDTF2Holmes, OH6.0100$750,000
June 225:45 PM EDTF1Stark, OH4.075$1.5 million
June 225:47 PM EDTF1Tuscarawas, OH3.050$50,000
June 225:58 PM EDTF1Stark, OH3.550$500,000
June 225:28 PM MDTF0Prowers, CO1.0100
June 228:00 PM CDTF0Seward, KS0.320
June 228:04 PM CDTF0Stafford, KS0.320

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.