F1 tornado, Hillview to Barrow, Illinois, March 12, 2006

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

March 12, 2006

Touchdown

7:20 PM CST (01:20 UTC)

Path length

3.5 miles (5.6 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

County

Greene County

Touchdown point

39.480, -90.430

Lift-off point

39.500, -90.380

Record number

104

The tornado that stated in Calhoun County and moved across extreme southeast Pike County next moved into Greene County southwest of Hillview and caused damage at a farm in the Illinois River flood plain. Two machine sheds were destroyed while a house sustained roof, window, and siding damage. The damage was rated F1 at this location. The tornado moved across the town of Hillview at approximately 7:15 pm CST. A number of homes sustained minor damage while one two story brick building was damaged. Several large limbs and a few large trees were also down in town. The width of the damage area was approximately 100 yards and the damage intensity was F0. The tornado continued to move northeast and lay a continuous path of mainly tree damage from Hillview to Patterson. Two machine sheds at a farmstead 2 miles southwest of Patterson were destroyed. The width of the damage area was 75 yards wide and was rated F0. In the town of Patterson a number of homes sustained varying degrees of damage while one house trailer was severely damaged. The tornado continued to move northeast over farmlands northeast of Patterson to 1 mile north northeast of the small community of Barrow. Several large grain silos and machine sheds were destroyed while two farm homes sustained varying degrees of damage. Debris from the silos and machine sheds were tossed 1/8 to 1/4 mile to the northeast. The tornado also downed over a mile of high voltage power lines along Highway 106. The tornado moved across the Greene Scott County line just east of Queen Road about 2 miles northeast of Barrow. The damage intensity northeast of Barrow was rated F2.

A second tornado formed 0.75 miles south of the Calhoun Green County tornado approximately 2.0 miles southwest of Barrow at 7:20 pm CST. This tornado initially damaged a few machine sheds and grain silos west of Highway 106 then traveled through the town of Barrow injuring 2 people, destroying two house trailers and damaging a number of homes in town. The second tornado continued to parallel the first tornado then dissipated near the intersection of County Roads 2550E and 2750N or 1.0 mile east northeast of Barrow. The damage width of this tornado was approximately 100 yards and total damage length was 3.5 miles. The damage associated with this tornado was rated F1. A witness in the town of barrow saw the first tornado and this one on the ground at the same time.

The Calhoun Greene County supercell thunderstorm produced a third tornado about 0.25 mile north of the intersection of County Road 2700n and Highway 106, about 0.75 mile northwest of Barrow. This tornado was approximately 0.25 mile north of the first tornado damage track and also paralleled the first damage track. A home on a farmstead sustained minor damage while two machine sheds were destroyed. Three other machine sheds were destroyed by this tornado just south of the Greene Scott county line. The tornado then continued into Scott County. The total damage track was about 2 miles while the damage width was 75 yards. The damage associated with this tornado was F1 intensity.

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

15 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:05 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:42 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:50 UTC and running to 02:49 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 High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:01 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.

Jacksonville (IJX), 35 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), 91 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:18 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.

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

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

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

54 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.