EF1 tornado, Barr to Ward, Illinois, March 23, 2012

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

March 23, 2012

Touchdown

12:24 PM CDT (17:24 UTC)

Lifted

12:39 PM CDT (17:39 UTC)

On the ground

15 minutes

Path length

7.5 miles (12.0 km)

Path width

125 yards (114 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$75,000

County

Jackson County

Touchdown point

37.947, -89.181

Lift-off point

37.858, -89.258

Record number

1203231124-01

3 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS PAH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 93 mph.

• Peak Winds: 90 mph\nAvg. Path Width: 125 Yds\nPath Length: 7.5 miles

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A large upper level low pressure system moved east from Missouri into an area of warm, moist air with dewpoint temperatures in the 60s. Strong mid level winds helped to produce severe thunderstorms, including supercells.

The tornado touched down near Highway 13 about 3 miles east of Murphysboro and ended about 3 miles southwest of De Soto. A few tree limbs and small trees were blown down. Peak winds were estimated at 70 mph.

The tornado began 3.5 miles northwest of De Soto along Truax Traer Road and traveled northeast to 3.5 southeast of DuQuoin. Dozens of trees were uprooted and snapped. One barn was destroyed and several sheds and carports were damaged. A few homes had minor damage to siding and roof shingles. The tornado was observed and recorded by numerous spotters and citizens. Peak winds were about 90 mph.

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

6 minutes of warning. NWS PAH issued a tornado warning for this county at 17:18 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 16:44 UTC and running to 20:29 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:26 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 Paducah radar (KPAH), 101 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:25 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 2012 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

13 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.