EF2 tornado, Elmwood to Edwards, Illinois, June 5, 2010

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF2

Date

June 5, 2010

Touchdown

8:04 PM CDT (01:04 UTC)

Lifted

8:07 PM CDT (01:07 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.1 miles (3.4 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$85 million

County

Peoria County

Touchdown point

40.782, -89.986

Lift-off point

40.776, -89.946

Record number

1006051904-01

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 crossed the Knox-Peoria County line 1.1 miles west of Elmwood, then continued southeastward through the town of Elmwood. Considerable structural damage occurred to 10 homes, 30 businesses and nearly two dozen vehicles in downtown Elmwood, amounting to approximately $85 million in damages. There was a total of about 80 people, some that were attending an outdoor festival in the downtown and some that were at a theater, that took shelter in the basement of the movie theater. As a result, there were no injuries. The tornado dissipated 1 mile east of Elmwood.

A tornado touched down 2.6 miles east of Elmwood, then continued eastward across southern Peoria County. Numerous trees and tree limbs were blown down along the path of the tornado. In addition, shingles were stripped off a home, a small shed was destroyed, and a grain bin was blown one quarter of a mile into a field. The tornado lifted 4.1 miles west-southwest of Kickapoo.

A tornado touched down 4 miles west-southwest of Kickapoo, then continued eastward across southern Peoria County, eventually lifting 0.7 miles north of Edwards. Numerous trees and tree branches were blown down along the path of the tornado. A large barn was destroyed and the siding was stripped off the east side of another barn. In addition, large trees were blown down onto two homes, causing considerable roof damage.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS ILX issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:59 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:45 UTC.

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

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 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 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.

Peoria (PIA), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 88 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:01 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.

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

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

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

42 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.