Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2013
EF0 tornado, Van Orin, Illinois, June 24, 2013
This EF0 tornado ran 0.6 miles across Bureau County on June 24, 2013, touching down at 4:33 PM CDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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 mphthis tornado
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 mph
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
- EF0
- Date
- June 24, 2013
- Touchdown
- 4:33 PM CDT (21:33 UTC)
- Lifted
- 4:34 PM CDT (21:34 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.6 miles (1.0 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $10,000
- County
- Bureau County
- Touchdown point
- 41.564, -89.344
- Lift-off point
- 41.569, -89.334
- Record number
- 1306241533-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A disturbance moving northeastward across the region led to the development of a severe squall line with bowing segments that moved from eastern Iowa into northwest Illinois during the early evening hours. This line of thunderstorms produced widespread wind damage along and to the north of Interstate 80. There was an EF-1 tornado near Atkinson in Henry County and an EF-0 near Van Orin in Bureau County.
Over a dozen large pine trees were downed, including several that had been snapped across two farmsteads. There was minor damage to one of the homes from a tree falling on it. In addition, the corn crop was severely bent between the two properties.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
24 minutes of warning. NWS DVN issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:09 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:45 UTC.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:21 UTC and running to 22:22 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:09 UTC | 16:44 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | DVN |
| 17:21 UTC | 22:22 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | DVN |
| 20:47 UTC | 21:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | DVN |
| 21:09 UTC | 21:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | DVN |
| 21:14 UTC | 22:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DVN |
| 21:36 UTC | 22:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DVN |
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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:55 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
2.4 hours after it, 97 km from the path. June 25, 2013.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 159 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -452 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 124 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1410 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 60 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 19 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 49 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 289 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.4 K/km
The radar
The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 103 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:34 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:07 UTC | TSTM WND GST 70 | 2 Ne Atkinson | Henry, IL | |
| 21:08 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Ne Atkinson | Henry, IL | 50 YARDS WIDE AND 1 MILE LONG. POLEBARN DESTROYED. NUMEROUS TREES DOWN IN THE NARROW PATH. TIN WRAPPED AROUND TOPS OF TREES. |
| 21:20 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Tampico | Whiteside, IL | TREE BRANCH 2.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER DOWN. |
| 21:21 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | New Bedford | Bureau, IL | TREES SPLIT IN HALF |
| 21:27 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | Rock Falls | Whiteside, IL | WIND GUSTS ESTIMATED 55 TO 60 MPH. |
| 21:29 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 7 Sw Walton | Lee, IL | THIS IS FROM THE JUNE 24TH EVENT. THIS WAS THE START OF AN APPROXIMATELY 13 MILE SWATH OF SEVERE WIND DAMAGE TO THE NORTHEAST WHICH ENDED 1NNW OF AMBOY. ESTIMATED WIND SPEEDS AT A HANDFUL OF POINTS WERE IN EXCESS OF 80 M |
| 21:31 UTC | TSTM WND GST 70 | Sterling | Whiteside, IL | |
| 21:32 UTC | TORNADO | 2 S Harmon | Lee, IL | THIS REPORT IS FROM THE JUNE 24TH EVENT. AN NWS STORM SURVEY ASSESSMENT DETERMINED AN EF-0 TORNADO WITH MAXIMUM WINDS ESTIMATED NEAR 85 MPH TRACKED FOR FOUR MILES ENDING 2.5 ENE OF HARMON. MAXIMUM WIDTH WAS ESTIMATED NEA |
| 21:33 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Amboy | Lee, IL | SHEET METAL BUILDINGS DAMAGED AND GRAIN BINS BLOWN OVER. TIME ESTIMATED. |
| 21:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Rock Falls | Whiteside, IL | LARGE TREE ON A HOUSE. |
| 21:35 UTC | TORNADO | Walton | Lee, IL | REPORT OF A TORNADO NEAR WALTON. DAMAGE ALSO REPORTED. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 21:37 UTC | TSTM WND GST 100 | Walton | Lee, IL | THIS IS FROM THE JUNE 24TH EVENT. THIS WIND SPEED WAS ESTIMATED BASED ON DAMAGE...WHICH WAS THE HIGHEST END DAMAGE IN A CONTINUOUS SWATH OF SEVERE WINDS FROM 7SW OF WALTON TO 1NNW OF AMBOY. AN NWS STORM SURVEY ASSESSMENT |
| 21:39 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Malden | Bureau, IL | LARGE TWO AND A HALF FOOT DIAMETER TREE DOWN...WITH SEVERAL BRANCES DOWN IN TOWN...TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 21:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Hennepin | Putnam, IL | BRANCHES 1-2 INCHES IN DIAMETER DOWN. |
| 21:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Van Orin | Bureau, IL | LARGE ELM TREE DOWN. NUMEROUS BRANCHES DOWN. SHEET OF PLYWOOD BLEW ACROSS THE ROAD. |
| 21:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Sublette | Lee, IL | 4 TO 18 INCH DIAMETER TREE BRANCHES DOWN. POWER LINES DOWN. |
| 21:44 UTC | TSTM WND GST 70 | Mendota | La Salle, IL | POWERLINES DOWN OUTSIDE OF TOWN. MANY TREE BRANCHES DOWN...SOME QUITE LARGE. |
| 21:44 UTC | TSTM WND GST 85 | Mendota | La Salle, IL | THIS IS FROM THE JUNE 24TH EVENT. WIND SPEED WAS ESTIMATED BASED ON THE DAMAGE. NUMEROUS LARGE TREES AND BRANCHES WERE DOWNED ACROSS TOWN. A FREE STANDING LIGHT POLE WAS DOWNED AT THE HIGH SCHOOL. |
| 21:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | La Moille | Bureau, IL | 3 INCH DIAMETER TREE SPLIT IN HALF DUE TO HIGH WINDS. |
| 21:46 UTC | TSTM WND GST 55 | Hennepin | Putnam, IL | |
| 21:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Ne Troy Grove | La Salle, IL | TREES DOWN NEAR TRIUMPH AND TROY GROVE. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 22:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Mendota | La Salle, IL | POWER LINES DOWN OUTSIDE OF TOWN. TREE BRANCHES DOWN TOO. |
| 22:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Tonica | La Salle, IL | SEMI OVERTURNED ON INTERSTATE 39 IN ADDITION TO WIDESPREAD WIND DAMAGE. VIA FACEBOOK. |
| 22:00 UTC | TSTM WND GST 62 | 1 Ssw Ottawa | La Salle, IL | MEASURED AT SITE SRDI2. |
| 22:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Ottawa | La Salle, IL | MEDIUM SIZED TREE BRANCH DOWN ON A PHONE LINE ON WEST CENTER STREET. |
| 22:08 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Ottawa | La Salle, IL | LARGE TREES UPROOTED ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF OTTAWA. |
| 22:09 UTC | TSTM WND GST 65 | 2 Sse Steward | Lee, IL | SPOTTER ON I-39 5 MILES NORTH OF HWY 30 HAD ESTIMATED WINDS AT 60 TO 65 MPH. NO DAMAGE SEEN OR VEHICLES OFF THE ROAD AT THAT TIME. |
| 22:12 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Peru | La Salle, IL | SEMI TRUCK FLIPPED OVER BY WINDS AT INTERSTATE 80 AND MILE MARKER 75. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2013 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 24, 2013
4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.