Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2010
EF3 tornado, Aroma Park to Tallmadge, Illinois, June 5, 2010
From Aroma Park to Tallmadge, this EF3 tornado ran 7.8 miles across Kankakee County on June 5, 2010, touching down at 10:18 PM CDT and reaching 175 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1, and did $600,000 of property damage.
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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
EF3136 to 165 mphthis tornado
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- EF3
- Date
- June 5, 2010
- Touchdown
- 10:18 PM CDT (03:18 UTC)
- Lifted
- 10:37 PM CDT (03:37 UTC)
- On the ground
- 19 minutes
- Path length
- 7.8 miles (12.5 km)
- Path width
- 175 yards (160 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 1
- Property damage
- $600,000
- County
- Kankakee County
- Touchdown point
- 41.064, -87.752
- Lift-off point
- 41.083, -87.606
- Record number
- 1006052118-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Severe thunderstorms, including a few long tracked supercells moved across central and northern Illinois, producing damaging winds, hail and tornadoes.
The tornado began 3 miles northwest of St. Anne in Kankakee county. The tornado developed just west of 6000E Road and tracked to the east, where it produced damage to a home and a garage along the road. At this location, a single family home collapsed upon itself, leaving it inhabitable. The garage sustained damage to its roof and exterior walls. The tornado was rated EF2 with winds estimated at around 113 mph.||The tornado continued to move to the east northeast, where it increased in intensity as it encountered yet another family home at the intersection of Route 1 and 4000S Road. This home and the garage/barn next to it sustained considerable damage, leaving the home inhabitable. The damage to the home consisted of all the walls collapsing, with all remaining debris from the house tossed to the northeast. The garage walls collapsed with the contents tossed to the east. Two four-wheelers and a four-door automobile inside the garage were lifted and flipped over as the tornado passed. Further north along Route 1, there was minor structural damage to a couple of homes and several trees uprooted. Damage at this location was rated EF3 with winds estimated at around 142 mph and a path width of 175 yards.||As this tornado continued to the northeast, it lost its intensity as it came across another residence at the intersection of 4000S Road and 8500E Road. Here, a house sustained partial damage to its roof with several surrounding trees having limbs sheared at the top. The tornado weakened at this point, and damage was rated EF1 with winds estimated at around 97 mph and a path width of 50 yards.||The tornado moved to the northeast through a wooded area, causing damage to many trees along its way. The more significant damage occurred near the intersection of 13000E Road and Gamble Road in the Hopkins Park area, where several healthy large hardwood tree tops were sheared or broken. Some homes were damaged by falling trees. The tornado continued to weaken and damage was rated EF1, with winds estimated at around 88 mph, and a path width of 50 yards. It was along 13000E Road where the tornado appeared to lift, with no other damage evident beyond this point.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
9 minutes of warning. NWS LOT issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:09 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:00 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:40 UTC and running to 06:33 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00 UTC | 06:00 UTC | Flash Flood Watch | LOT |
| 00:40 UTC | 06:33 UTC | Tornado Watch | LOT |
| 02:14 UTC | 03:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | LOT |
| 02:23 UTC | 03:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | LOT |
| 02:59 UTC | 03:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT |
| 03:09 UTC | 04:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | LOT |
| 03:29 UTC | 06:30 UTC | Flood Advisory | LOT |
| 03:42 UTC | 04:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT |
| 03:54 UTC | 07:00 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | LOT |
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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:06 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), 00:00Z
3.3 hours before the tornado, 129 km from the path. June 6, 2010.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1457 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -146 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2628 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1235 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 53 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 26 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 249 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 352 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.6
- Supercell composite
- 6.8
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.2 K/km
Lincoln, IL (KILX), 12:00Z
8.7 hours after it, 129 km from the path. June 6, 2010.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- 0 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 7 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 616 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 62 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 15 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -92 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 12 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.9 K/km
The surface observations
Kankakee (IKK), 14 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01:22 UTC | 78.8 | 71.6 | 210° 9 kt | 1002.4 | ||
| 01:42 UTC | 78.8 | 69.8 | 210° 13 kt | 1001.7 | VCTS | |
| 02:02 UTC | 78.8 | 69.8 | 210° 10 kt | 17 | 1001.4 | VCTS |
| 02:22 UTC | 78.8 | 69.8 | 210° 15 kt | 1001.4 | ||
| 02:44 UTC | 75.2 | 71.6 | 210° 13 kt | 21 | 1001 | VCTSRA |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Chicago radar (KLOT), 68 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:18 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02:26 UTC | TORNADO | Dwight | Livingston, IL | STATE POLICE CONFIRMED TORNADO JUST WEST OF INTERSTATE 55 AND SOUTH OF RT. 17 |
| 02:30 UTC | TORNADO 2 | 1 W Dwight | Livingston, IL | *** 6 INJ *** EF2 TORNADO DAMAGE CONFIRMED 1/4 MILE SOUTH OF IL ROUTE 17 AND 1/2 MILE EAST OF I-55. APPROX 12 MOBILE HOMES DESTROYED, SEVERAL MORE DAMAGED. 6 INJURIES, 1 SERIOUS. STORM SURVEY CONTINUES, THIS INFORMATION |
| 02:34 UTC | TORNADO | 3 E Dwight | Livingston, IL | ILLINOIS STATE POLICE ARE FOLLOWING A TORNADO ON THE GROUND 3 MILES EAST OF DWIGHT AND 1 MILE SOUTH OF STATE HIGHWAY 17. |
| 02:39 UTC | TORNADO | Dwight | Livingston, IL | HEAVY DAMAGE SOUTH PART OF TOWN. REPORTED BY FIRE DEPARTMENT |
| 02:45 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 0 | 1 S Coal City | Grundy, IL | HEAVY RAIN AND ROTATION AT INTERSECTION OF BROADWAY AND BRACEVILLE. |
| 02:47 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Nw Buckingham | Kankakee, IL | 17000W AND RT 115. TORNADO JUST DISSIPATED |
| 03:01 UTC | TORNADO | 2 E Herscher | Kankakee, IL | ON RT 115. SPOTTER REPORTS TORNADO KEEPS TOUCHING DOWN AND LIFTING. |
| 03:10 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Kankakee | Kankakee, IL | WATER RUNNING OVER E RIVER ROAD |
| 03:13 UTC | TORNADO | 5 Sw Cullom | Livingston, IL | |
| 03:23 UTC | TORNADO | 2 N St. Anne | Kankakee, IL | 2 TORNADOS ON GROUND. |
| 03:25 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 1.28 | 4 E Mazon | Grundy, IL | RAIN FELL IN PAST 30 MINUTES. |
| 03:30 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 1.86 | 2 Nw Bonfield | Kankakee, IL | RAIN FELL IN LAST HOUR |
| 03:55 UTC | TORNADO | 2 N St. Anne | Kankakee, IL | TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN. RUPTURED GAS LINES. FIRE DEPARTMENT ON SCENE. |
| 03:55 UTC | TORNADO | St. Anne | Kankakee, IL | HOUSE DESTROYED AT INTERSECTION 3795S AND 6000E |
| 03:57 UTC | TORNADO | 3 N St. Anne | Kankakee, IL | NUMEROUS TREES DOWN. ROOFS BLOWN OFF HOUSES. |
| 04:15 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Kankakee | Kankakee, IL | ROADWAY FLOODED AT HARRIS AND RT 50 |
| 04:20 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Kankakee | Kankakee, IL | ROADWAY FLOODED AT GREENWOOD AND FAIR ST |
| 04:35 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 1.9 | Sse Bourbonnais | Kankakee, IL | RAIN FELL IN THE LAST HOUR. |
| 04:45 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Bradley | Kankakee, IL | UNDERPASS FLOODED AT BROOKMOUNT AND SCHUYLER |
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 June 5, 2010
42 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 5 | 1:46 PM EDT | EF0 | Richland, OH | 0.5 | 20 | $35,000 | ||
| June 5 | 2:30 PM EDT | EF1 | Orleans, VT | 2.1 | 83 | $25,000 | ||
| June 5 | 2:40 PM EDT | EF1 | Holmes, OH | 12.8 | 100 | $550,000 | ||
| June 5 | 4:14 PM EDT | EF0 | Coos, NH | 0.1 | 40 | |||
| June 5 | 5:19 PM EDT | EF1 | Oxford, ME | 4.2 | 300 | |||
| June 5 | 6:11 PM CDT | EF0 | Warren, IA | 1.1 | 30 | |||
| June 5 | 7:34 PM CDT | EF0 | Knox, IL | 0.1 | 10 | |||
| June 5 | 7:40 PM CDT | EF1 | Jackson, IA | 2.2 | 150 | 1 | $250,000 | |
| June 5 | 7:56 PM CDT | EF2 | Knox, IL | 5.7 | 50 | $420,000 | ||
| June 5 | 8:00 PM CDT | EF0 | Clinton, IA | 0.4 | 100 | |||
| June 5 | 8:04 PM CDT | EF2 | Peoria, IL | 2.1 | 50 | $85 million | ||
| June 5 | 8:10 PM CDT | EF1 | Peoria, IL | 4.9 | 100 | $85,000 | ||
| June 5 | 8:10 PM CDT | EF2 | Putnam, IL | 8.0 | 880 | $1.0 million | ||
| June 5 | 8:18 PM CDT | EF1 | Peoria, IL | 3.9 | 75 | $170,000 | ||
| June 5 | 8:28 PM CDT | EF0 | LaSalle, IL | 1.3 | 30 | $5,000 | ||
| June 5 | 8:32 PM CDT | EF0 | LaSalle, IL | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| June 5 | 8:32 PM CDT | EF0 | Peoria, IL | 2.0 | 100 | $100,000 | ||
| June 5 | 8:34 PM CDT | EF2 | Marshall, IL | 17.6 | 800 | 17 | $7.0 million | |
| June 5 | 8:50 PM CDT | EF0 | LaSalle, IL | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| June 5 | 8:51 PM CDT | EF2 | Tazewell, IL | 0.8 | 250 | $560,000 | ||
| June 5 | 8:53 PM CDT | EF2 | Woodford, IL | 2.3 | 250 | $70,000 | ||
| June 5 | 8:58 PM CDT | EF3 | Livingston, IL | 8.6 | 440 | $750,000 | ||
| June 5 | 9:12 PM CDT | EF2 | Livingston, IL | 6.0 | 300 | 1 | 13 | $3.0 million |
| June 5 | 9:16 PM CDT | EF0 | Livingston, IL | 2.4 | 20 | $100,000 | ||
| June 5 | 9:31 PM CDT | EF0 | Livingston, IL | 3.8 | 20 | $20,000 | ||
| June 5 | 10:38 PM EDT | EF2 | Fulton, OH | 7.2 | 700 | $500,000 | ||
| June 5 | 11:00 PM EDT | EF1 | Lucas, OH | 3.4 | 100 | $75,000 | ||
| June 5 | 10:02 PM CDT | EF1 | Kankakee, IL | 0.6 | 30 | $500,000 | ||
| June 5 | 10:08 PM CDT | EF0 | Livingston, IL | 0.4 | 50 | $2,000 | ||
| June 5 | 10:19 PM CDT | EF1 | Kankakee, IL | 0.6 | 50 | $75,000 | ||
| June 5 | 11:20 PM EDT | EF4 | Millbury tornado, OH | 8.8 | 400 | 7 | 28 | $102 million |
| June 5 | 11:28 PM EDT | EF2 | Berrien, MI | 3.4 | 200 | $150,000 | ||
| June 5 | 11:36 PM EDT | EF1 | Berrien, MI | 1.4 | 100 | $100,000 | ||
| June 5 | 10:57 PM CDT | EF0 | Logan, IL | 5.9 | 300 | $80,000 | ||
| June 5 | 11:59 PM EDT | EF2 | Cass, MI | 2.7 | 200 | $100,000 | ||
| June 5 | 12:03 AM EDT | EF1 | Calhoun, MI | 1.6 | 300 | $2.0 million | ||
| June 5 | 11:06 PM CDT | EF0 | DeWitt, IL | 5.9 | 300 | $90,000 | ||
| June 5 | 12:32 AM EDT | EF2 | Saint Joseph, MI | 10.7 | 200 | $300,000 | ||
| June 5 | 1:03 AM EDT | EF1 | White, IN | 12.6 | 150 | 2 | $600,000 | |
| June 5 | 1:25 AM EDT | EF1 | Carroll, IN | 6.3 | 150 | 1 | $185,000 | |
| June 5 | 1:41 AM EDT | EF3 | Miami, IN | 7.5 | 250 | 1 | $875,000 | |
| June 5 | 1:48 AM EDT | EF1 | Lenawee, MI | 2.5 | 250 | $500,000 |
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.