Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2010

EF0 tornado, Durley, Illinois, December 31, 2010

This EF0 tornado ran 1.7 miles across Bond County on December 31, 2010, touching down at 1:05 PM CST and reaching 100 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
December 31, 2010
Touchdown
1:05 PM CST (19:05 UTC)
Lifted
1:07 PM CST (19:07 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.7 miles (2.8 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Bond County
Touchdown point
38.901, -89.398
Lift-off point
38.917, -89.374
Record number
1012311305-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms developed ahead of a strong cold front, triggering numerous showers and thunderstorms. A number of tornadoes were reported as well as damaging winds and large hail.

A tornado touched down on the north side of Greenville near the intersection of North Hena Street and North Dewey Street. An agricultural building at the high school sustained roof damage with some additional minor roof and tree damage noticed at an adjacent house. The tornado then moved northeast causing significant damage to a large tree on the north side of Illinois Route 140. Minor roof and siding damage was noted on several houses on Cloverfield Lane and North Idler Lane. The tornado continued northeast producing additional minor roof and tree damage on Country Club and Woburn Roads before dissipating.

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

The warnings

27 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:38 UTC, 27 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:45 UTC and running to 21:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
16:45 UTC21:00 UTCTornado WatchLSX
17:59 UTC19:00 UTCTornado WarningLSX
18:38 UTC19:45 UTCTornado WarningLSX
18:57 UTC19:45 UTCTornado WarningLSX
19:40 UTC20:30 UTCTornado WarningLSX
20:22 UTC21:15 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:23 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

7.1 hours before the tornado, 154 km from the path. December 31, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2010-12-31Temperature 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 -66951, lifted condensation level 506 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 2010-12-31The 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 450 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 58 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
-66951 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
506 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
58 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
56 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
450 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
427 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

4.9 hours after it, 154 km from the path. January 1, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2011-01-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 10 joules per kilogram, CIN -144, lifted condensation level 1348 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 2011-01-01The 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 11 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 69 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
10 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-144 J/kg
Surface CAPE
39 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1348 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
69 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
76 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 115 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:03 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
18:26 UTCTSTM WND GST 70MascoutahSt. Clair, ILSIDING OFF OF HOME AND OUTBUILDINGS.
18:26 UTCTORNADO1 N O'FallonSt. Clair, IL
19:05 UTCTORNADO1 N GreenvilleBond, ILTORNADO DAMAGE TO AN AG BULDING NORTH SIDE OF GREENVILLE IL...ALSO DAMAGE TO SEVERAL HOMES NE OF TOWN. RP
19:07 UTCTORNADO2 Ne GreenvilleBond, IL
19:40 UTCFLOODWood RiverMadison, ILSTREET FLOODING...MAINLY PONDING OF WATER IN LOW AREAS...IN WOOD RIVER.
20:40 UTCHAIL 0.252 E HueyClinton, IL

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2010 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of December 31, 2010

28 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 3112:17 AM CSTEF0Stone, MO1.875$750,000
December 3112:18 AM CSTEF1Christian, MO5.32502$200,000
December 3112:31 AM CSTEF0Webster, MO3.1150$100,000
December 316:05 AM CSTEF3Adair, OK to AR21.1500410$1.9 million
December 317:48 AM CSTEF0Carroll, AR to MO4.350$15,000
December 318:37 AM CSTEF0Polk, MO1.050$5,000
December 319:43 AM CSTEF3Pulaski, MO7.55004$90 million
December 3110:06 AM CSTEF3Phelps, MO11.050026$1.0 million
December 3110:12 AM CSTEF1Phelps, MO6.84402$500,000
December 3110:40 AM CSTEF1Crawford, MO6.4100
December 3111:16 AM CSTEF1Franklin, MO0.8100$40,000
December 3111:17 AM CSTEF0Franklin, MO0.450
December 3111:19 AM CSTEF2Franklin, MO12.2370
December 3111:25 AM CSTEF0Saint Charles, MO2.050
December 3111:27 AM CSTEF1Jefferson, MO8.650
December 3111:48 AM CSTEF3Saint Louis, MO6.744016$1.0 million
December 3111:48 AM CSTEF1Saint Louis, MO1.7175
December 3111:56 AM CSTEF0Calhoun, IL3.650
December 3112:08 PM CSTEF1City of Saint Louis, MO2.7100
December 3112:30 PM CSTEF0Saint Clair, IL0.150
December 3112:37 PM CSTEF3Menard, IL3.62001$12 million
December 311:24 PM CSTEF2Carter, MO2.6200$200,000
December 312:25 PM CSTEF2Butler, MO0.2100$250,000
December 312:35 PM CSTEF0LaSalle Parish, LA0.450$20,000
December 314:11 PM CSTEF1Warren, MS3.6100$110,000
December 314:44 PM CSTEF2Hinds, MS26.2800$2.7 million
December 315:42 PM CSTEF0Rankin, MS1.450$2,000
December 318:09 PM CSTEF1Lincoln, MS2.150$250,000

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.