EF2 tornado, Confidnece to St Elmo, Illinois, February 28, 2011

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

February 28, 2011

Touchdown

12:33 AM CST (06:33 UTC)

Lifted

12:34 AM CST (06:34 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.1 miles (0.1 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Fayette County

Touchdown point

38.996, -88.807

Lift-off point

38.996, -88.806

Record number

1102280033-01

A quasi-stationary frontal boundary was the main focusing mechanism for a round of significant severe weather over the forecast area. A strong shortwave moved along the boundary triggering widespread showers and thunderstorms. Numerous reports of large hail, damaging winds and 22 tornadoes occurred with this system.

A tornado touched down in Confidence, Illinois approximately 8 miles southwest of St. Elmo or 9.5 miles east-southeast of Vandalia. The tornado touched down near the intersection of County Road 1750E and County Road 1275N. In this location it damaged a residence, trees, and outbuildings. A convergent pattern was found in the debris. The tornado then continued east northeast and damaged several residences and farm buildings along County Road 1275N. One residence was shifted 22 feet off the foundation and another was shifted 6 feet off the foundation. Lumber from the roof was driven into the siding and into the foundation at a third residence. The tornado then skipped through a wooded area north of County Road 1275N before lifting west of Illinois Route 185. The maximum damage was rated EF2 with a maximum wind speed around 120 mph. The total length of this tornado was approximately 1.3 miles with a maximum width of 90 yards.

A tornado briefly touched down approximately 1 mile southeast of St. Elmo at a farm building located a tenth of a mile south of Interstate 70 and two tenths of a mile north of County Road 1900N along County Road 2250E. The south facing wall of a large metal farm storage building was blown out with debris scattered over one half mile into an adjacent field. Several 2x4s were driven several feet into the ground. A billboard just south of the farm building supported by 16 wooden posts, each 5 to 10 inches in diameter. All of these posts were snapped but there was no damage to the power poles directly across the road. Since the billboard was found on the road directly in front of the posts rather than farther downstream, it appears that straight line winds caused damage to the billboard while the tornado was responsible for damage to the farm building. The maximum damage was rated EF1 with a maximum wind speed around 95 mph. The total length of this tornado was approximately two tenths of a mile with a maximum width of 10 yards.

A tornado briefly touched down near the Fayette and Effingham county line approximately two tenths of a mile south of County Road 1800N. Two large farm buildings were destroyed and debris was thrown 1 mile to the east into Effingham County. Other farm buildings also sustained damage. There were four spots on the property with evidence that heavy debris, including a cinderblock, was thrown a substantial distance to the northwest. Several 2x4s were driven several feet into the ground. The tornado did not go into Effingham county. The maximum damage was rated EF2 with a maximum wind speed around 115 mph. The total length of this tornado was a tenth of a mile with a maximum width of 50 yards.

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

26 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 06:07 UTC, 26 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 03:40 UTC and running to 07:46 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:58 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.

The Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 125 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:33 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 2011 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

25 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.