Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2006

F0 tornado, Tuscola to Villa Grove, Illinois, May 31, 2006

From Tuscola to Villa Grove, this F0 tornado ran 0.6 miles across Douglas County on May 31, 2006, touching down at 2:39 PM CDT and reaching 50 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
May 31, 2006
Touchdown
2:39 PM CDT (19:39 UTC)
Path length
0.6 miles (1.0 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Douglas County
Touchdown point
39.830, -88.400
Lift-off point
39.870, -88.370
Record number
586

What the Weather Service recorded

The tornado briefly touched down in a field. No damage or injuries were reported.

The tornado briefly touched down in a field. No damage or injuries were reported.

The tornado briefly touched down in a field. No damage or injuries were reported.

The tornado continued from Champaign County. No damage or injuries were reported.

The tornado briefly touched down in a field. No damage or injuries were reported.

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

The warnings

6 minutes of warning. NWS ILX issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:33 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:33 UTC20:15 UTCTornado WarningILX
21:13 UTC00:15 UTCFlash Flood 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. The outlook in force was issued at 16:09 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 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

7.7 hours before the tornado, 38 km from the path. May 31, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2006-05-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 805 joules per kilogram, CIN -50, lifted condensation level 795 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2006-05-31The 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 -1 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 16 knots.1939Sfc1 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
805 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-50 J/kg
Surface CAPE
477 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
795 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
18 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

4.3 hours after it, 38 km from the path. June 1, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2006-06-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 495 joules per kilogram, CIN -31, lifted condensation level 865 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2006-06-01The 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 -57 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 15 knots.1939Sfc1 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
495 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-31 J/kg
Surface CAPE
661 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
865 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-57 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-30 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Champaign - Willard (CMI), 22 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
17:53 UTC8666270° 9 kt1019
18:43 UTC87.866.2270° 11 kt161018.3TS
18:53 UTC8566270° 10 kt151018.6TS
19:34 UTC7766.290° 10 kt1018.3+FC TS
19:38 UTC75.266.2110° 13 kt1018.3TS
19:53 UTC7368130° 19 kt221018.6TS
20:05 UTC69.866.2140° 23 kt271018.6+TSRA BR
20:16 UTC69.866.2120° 8 kt1019.3-TSRA BR
20:32 UTC69.866.2100° 15 kt191019TSRA BR
20:53 UTC7067120° 10 kt1018.6TSRA BR

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

The radar

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 88 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:36 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
19:25 UTCTORNADO1 Sw BementPiatt, ILREPORTED BY TRAINED SPOTTER TO EMERGENCY MANAGER. NO DAMAGE.
19:34 UTCTORNADO3 S PesotumDouglas, ILTORNADO SIGHTED JUST WEST OF INTERSTATE 57 NEAR MILE MARKER 217 BY STATE POLICE.
19:34 UTCTORNADO4 N TuscolaDouglas, ILTORNADO SIGHTED JUST WEST OF INTERSTATE 57 NEAR MILE MARKER 217 BY STATE POLICE.
19:36 UTCTORNADOSadorusChampaign, ILTORNADO SIGHTED BY TRAINED SPOTTER.
19:56 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Sse SadorusChampaign, IL2 FOOT DIAMETER TREES BLOWN DOWN. WITNESSED BY A SHERIFF DEPUTY. FROM COUNTY ESDA
21:30 UTCFLASH FLOOD6 Nw TuscolaDouglas, IL1450N 650E FLOODED AND OTHER RURAL ROADS NEARBY. REPORTED BY DOUGLAS COUNTY SHERIFF.
21:40 UTCFLASH FLOOD2 Sw PesotumChampaign, ILSEVERAL RURAL ROADS FLOODED IN SOUTHWEST CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 5.50 INCHES OF RAIN MEASURED. REPORTED BY WCIA-TV.

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 May 31, 2006

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 313:15 PM EDTF0White, IN7.150
May 312:20 PM CDTF0Champaign, IL1.250
May 312:25 PM CDTF0Piatt, IL0.430
May 312:33 PM CDTF0Champaign, IL0.450
May 312:34 PM CDTF0Douglas, IL0.650
May 312:39 PM CDTF0Douglas, IL1.050
May 312:39 PM CDTF0Douglas, IL0.650
May 312:41 PM CDTF0Douglas, IL0.130
May 312:43 PM CDTF0Champaign, IL0.450
May 314:32 PM MDTF0Weld, CO0.150

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.