Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2010

EF0 tornado, Eastside Galesburg, Illinois, June 5, 2010

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Knox County on June 5, 2010, touching down at 7:34 PM CDT and reaching 10 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
June 5, 2010
Touchdown
7:34 PM CDT (00:34 UTC)
Lifted
7:35 PM CDT (00:35 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.1 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Crop damage
$2,000
County
Knox County
Touchdown point
40.834, -90.355
Lift-off point
40.835, -90.354
Record number
1006051834-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A stationary frontal boundary extending from southern Michigan across north-central Illinois served as the focus for severe thunderstorm development during the late afternoon and evening of June 5th. A vigorous upper-level disturbance tracking across the Upper Midwest added extra wind energy to the atmosphere, allowing supercell thunderstorms to develop along the front. Eight tornadoes were spawned by the storms, mainly along a Galesburg to Eureka line. An isolated tornado formed further south across eastern Logan and western DeWitt counties as well. No injuries were reported.

A tornado briefly touched down in a field 3 miles northeast of Abingdon. Minor crop damage occurred: however, no structures were impacted.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:51 UTC and running to 04:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
12:00 UTC06:00 UTCFlash Flood WatchILX
14:00 UTC20:31 UTCFlood WarningILX
20:51 UTC04:00 UTCTornado WatchILX
00:37 UTC01:00 UTCTornado WarningILX
00:59 UTC01:10 UTCTornado WarningILX
02:05 UTC08:00 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 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 20:00 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.

Davenport, (KDVN), 00:00Z

0.6 hours before the tornado, 88 km from the path. June 6, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Davenport, at 00:00Z on 2010-06-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2295 joules per kilogram, CIN -4, lifted condensation level 624 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, Davenport, at 00:00Z on 2010-06-06The 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 258 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 76 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
2295 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3065 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
624 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
76 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
258 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
324 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
4.8
Supercell composite
19.2
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Davenport, (KDVN), 12:00Z

11.4 hours after it, 88 km from the path. June 6, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2010-06-06Temperature 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 -71222, lifted condensation level 1156 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, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2010-06-06The 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 -64 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 81 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-71222 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1156 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
81 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-64 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
34 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Galesburg (GBG), 13 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:45 UTC82.473.4220° 11 kt1003.4
23:05 UTC82.473.4220° 9 kt1003.7
23:25 UTC80.673.4230° 10 kt161003.7
23:45 UTC80.673.4220° 9 kt1002.7
00:05 UTC80.673.4220° 9 kt1002.7
00:25 UTC80.673.4230° 11 kt181002.7RA
00:45 UTC78.873.4250° 11 kt141002.4VCTS
01:05 UTC78.873.4240° 8 kt1002
01:25 UTC78.873.4250° 7 kt1002TSRA
01:45 UTC7775.2230° 12 kt211002.7+TSRA
02:05 UTC75.271.6260° 12 kt1002.7-TSRA
02:25 UTC75.273.4280° 8 kt1002.7-VCTSRA

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

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 88 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:32 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
00:35 UTCTORNADO3 Ne AbingdonKnox, ILBRIEF TOUCHDOWN. NO DAMAGE REPORTED AT THIS TIME.
01:03 UTCTORNADOYates CityKnox, ILPOWER LINES DOWN.
01:06 UTCTORNADOElmwoodPeoria, ILTORNADO ENTERING ELMWOOD. NO DAMAGE REPORTS AT THIS TIME.
01:10 UTCTORNADO1 N ElmwoodPeoria, ILSECOND TORNADO ON THE GROUND.
01:14 UTCTORNADO2 S BrimfieldPeoria, ILTORNADO JUST SOUTH OF ROUTE 8.
01:31 UTCTORNADO7 W PeoriaPeoria, ILTORNADO AT HWY 116.
02:26 UTCHEAVY RAIN 04 W MonmouthWarren, ILRAINFALL RATE OF 1-2 INCHES PER HOUR. WATER IS UP NEXT TO THE ROADWAY AT INTERSECTION 164 AND 135.
02:30 UTCFLASH FLOOD1 N MonmouthWarren, ILSEVERAL INCHES OF WATER REPORTED OVER HIGHWAY 67 NORTH OF MONMOUTH.
02:30 UTCFLASH FLOOD2 N RosevilleWarren, ILCREEK REPORTED OUT OF ITS BANKS AND INUNDATING A COUNTY ROAD NORTH OF ROSEVILLE.
03:06 UTCHEAVY RAIN 1.87St. DavidFulton, ILMEASURED WITHIN ONE HOUR TIME FRAME.

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.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 51:46 PM EDTEF0Richland, OH0.520$35,000
June 52:30 PM EDTEF1Orleans, VT2.183$25,000
June 52:40 PM EDTEF1Holmes, OH12.8100$550,000
June 54:14 PM EDTEF0Coos, NH0.140
June 55:19 PM EDTEF1Oxford, ME4.2300
June 56:11 PM CDTEF0Warren, IA1.130
June 57:40 PM CDTEF1Jackson, IA2.21501$250,000
June 57:56 PM CDTEF2Knox, IL5.750$420,000
June 58:00 PM CDTEF0Clinton, IA0.4100
June 58:04 PM CDTEF2Peoria, IL2.150$85 million
June 58:10 PM CDTEF1Peoria, IL4.9100$85,000
June 58:10 PM CDTEF2Putnam, IL8.0880$1.0 million
June 58:18 PM CDTEF1Peoria, IL3.975$170,000
June 58:28 PM CDTEF0LaSalle, IL1.330$5,000
June 58:32 PM CDTEF0LaSalle, IL0.250
June 58:32 PM CDTEF0Peoria, IL2.0100$100,000
June 58:34 PM CDTEF2Marshall, IL17.680017$7.0 million
June 58:50 PM CDTEF0LaSalle, IL0.120
June 58:51 PM CDTEF2Tazewell, IL0.8250$560,000
June 58:53 PM CDTEF2Woodford, IL2.3250$70,000
June 58:58 PM CDTEF3Livingston, IL8.6440$750,000
June 59:12 PM CDTEF2Livingston, IL6.0300113$3.0 million
June 59:16 PM CDTEF0Livingston, IL2.420$100,000
June 59:31 PM CDTEF0Livingston, IL3.820$20,000
June 510:38 PM EDTEF2Fulton, OH7.2700$500,000
June 511:00 PM EDTEF1Lucas, OH3.4100$75,000
June 510:02 PM CDTEF1Kankakee, IL0.630$500,000
June 510:08 PM CDTEF0Livingston, IL0.450$2,000
June 510:18 PM CDTEF3Kankakee, IL7.81751$600,000
June 510:19 PM CDTEF1Kankakee, IL0.650$75,000
June 511:20 PM EDTEF4Millbury tornado, OH8.8400728$102 million
June 511:28 PM EDTEF2Berrien, MI3.4200$150,000
June 511:36 PM EDTEF1Berrien, MI1.4100$100,000
June 510:57 PM CDTEF0Logan, IL5.9300$80,000
June 511:59 PM EDTEF2Cass, MI2.7200$100,000
June 512:03 AM EDTEF1Calhoun, MI1.6300$2.0 million
June 511:06 PM CDTEF0DeWitt, IL5.9300$90,000
June 512:32 AM EDTEF2Saint Joseph, MI10.7200$300,000
June 51:03 AM EDTEF1White, IN12.61502$600,000
June 51:25 AM EDTEF1Carroll, IN6.31501$185,000
June 51:41 AM EDTEF3Miami, IN7.52501$875,000
June 51:48 AM EDTEF1Lenawee, MI2.5250$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.