Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2007

EF0 tornado, Wood River, Illinois, May 4, 2007

This EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Madison County on May 4, 2007, touching down at 5:50 PM CDT and reaching 40 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. EF5over 200 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
EF0
Date
May 4, 2007
Touchdown
5:50 PM CDT (22:50 UTC)
Lifted
5:54 PM CDT (22:54 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
0.0 miles (0.0 km)
Path width
40 yards (37 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Madison County
Touchdown point
38.850, -90.024
Lift-off point
38.850, -90.024
Record number
0705041650-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong low pressure system that caused rain across the area the previous 3 days finally lifted northeast. As it did, scattered thunderstorms developed, a few of which formed weak tornadoes. These cold-air type tornadoes lasted for only a few minutes and produced no damage. However, they were seen by many people and one was filmed by a local television station traffic helicopter.

A weak tornado formed in an open area east of Wood River. The tornado lasted for several minutes but moved very little. A local television traffic helicopter filmed the tornado for several minutes.

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

The warnings

2 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:48 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:48 UTC23:15 UTCTornado WarningLSX

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 20:01 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 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

10.8 hours before the tornado, 189 km from the path. May 4, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2007-05-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -101597, lifted condensation level 965 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 2007-05-04The 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 103 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-101597 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
965 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
103 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
108 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

1.2 hours after it, 189 km from the path. May 5, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2007-05-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 73 joules per kilogram, CIN -5, lifted condensation level 676 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 2007-05-05The 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 39 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 5 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
73 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5 J/kg
Surface CAPE
463 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
676 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
39 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
5 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Alton/St Louis R (ALN), 5 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:58 UTC69.864.4180° 6 kt1011.9
21:58 UTC69.864.4140° 6 kt1011.9
22:58 UTC69.864.40° 0 kt1011.9
23:58 UTC6864.40° 0 kt1011.5

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

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:50 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
22:40 UTCTORNADO5 W GillespieMacoupin, ILTORNADO TOUCHDOWN FOR ABOUT 5 MINUTES IN AN OPEN FIELD REPORTED BY 2 AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS.
22:50 UTCTORNADO3 E Wood RiverMadison, ILAMATEUR RADIO OPERATOR REPORTED BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN 3 MILES EAST OF WOOD RIVER NEAR INTERSTATE 255 IN AN OPEN FIELD.
23:05 UTCTORNADO2 Ne ShipmanMacoupin, ILTRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN 2 MILES NORTHEAST OF SHIPMAN IL.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 4, 2007

28 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 45:04 PM CDTEF0Macoupin, IL0.040
May 46:05 PM CDTEF0Macoupin, IL0.040
May 46:21 PM CDTEF1Ellis, OK4.050$110,000
May 46:45 PM CDTEF0Ellis, OK0.230$3,000
May 47:55 PM CDTEF1Hanson, SD1.0100
May 47:00 PM MDTEF0Arapahoe, CO0.150
May 48:20 PM CDTEF0Smith, KS0.140$45,000
May 48:21 PM CDTEF0Hanson, SD0.250
May 48:32 PM CDTEF0Clark, KS6.075
May 48:34 PM CDTEF0Clark, KS4.250
May 48:48 PM CDTEF0Comanche, KS2.950
May 48:50 PM CDTEF1Clark, KS2.375
May 49:00 PM CDTEF1Comanche, KS3.0100
May 49:03 PM CDTEF5Greensburg tornado, KS25.83,0001163$250 million
May 49:08 PM CDTEF1Kiowa, KS1.350
May 49:18 PM CDTEF0Kiowa, KS0.125
May 49:18 PM CDTEF0Kiowa, KS0.530
May 49:24 PM CDTEF0Kiowa, KS1.575
May 49:25 PM CDTEF0Kiowa, KS0.730
May 49:55 PM CDTEF0Kiowa, KS0.530
May 49:55 PM CDTEF1Kiowa, KS4.6100
May 410:03 PM CDTEF3Kiowa, KS23.53,8721$1.5 million
May 410:39 PM CDTEF3Kiowa, KS18.22,11012
May 411:20 PM CDTEF1Phillips, KS0.575$75,000
May 411:34 PM CDTEF3Stafford, KS17.41,5151
May 412:28 AM CDTEF1Stafford, KS5.7150
May 412:48 AM CDTEF0Barton, KS0.540
May 412:55 AM CDTEF0Barton, KS0.150$5,000

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.