Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2013

EF1 tornado, Atkinson to Annawan, Illinois, June 24, 2013

From Atkinson to Annawan, this EF1 tornado ran 6.2 miles across Henry County on June 24, 2013, touching down at 4:00 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
June 24, 2013
Touchdown
4:00 PM CDT (21:00 UTC)
Lifted
4:05 PM CDT (21:05 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
6.2 miles (10.0 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
County
Henry County
Touchdown point
41.430, -90.006
Lift-off point
41.454, -89.891
Record number
1306241500-01

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.

The tornado snapped several tree trunks, destroyed a grain bin, downed large limbs, and damaged the roof of one residence.

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

The warnings

13 minutes of warning. NWS DVN issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:47 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:15 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:21 UTC and running to 22:22 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
06:19 UTC07:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDVN
11:09 UTC16:44 UTCFlash Flood WarningDVN
12:02 UTC16:55 UTCFlash Flood WarningDVN
17:21 UTC22:22 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchDVN
20:22 UTC15:55 UTCFlood WarningDVN
20:35 UTC21:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDVN
20:47 UTC21:15 UTCTornado WarningDVN
20:47 UTC21:30 UTCTornado WarningDVN
21:09 UTC21:23 UTCTornado WarningDVN
21:14 UTC21:34 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDVN

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

3.0 hours after it, 50 km from the path. June 25, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Davenport, at 00:00Z on 2013-06-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 159 joules per kilogram, CIN -452, lifted condensation level 1410 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 2013-06-25The 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 49 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 60 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 56 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:59 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
20:38 UTCTSTM WND DMGMolineRock Island, ILSEVERAL LARGE 1 FOOT DIAMETER TREES DOWN NEAR 19TH AVE AND 26TH AVE...TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
20:39 UTCTSTM WND DMGNe MolineRock Island, ILSEVERAL LARGE TREE BRANCHES DOWN ACROSS NEIGHBORS YARD...NO POWER AT RESIDENCE.
20:39 UTCTSTM WND GST 68MolineRock Island, IL68 MPH WIND GUST AT THE QUAD CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN MOLINE.
20:46 UTCTSTM WND DMGWoodhullHenry, ILSEMI OVERTURNED ON INTERSTATE 74 JUST NORTH OF WOODHULL.
20:54 UTCTSTM WND GST 601 W CambridgeHenry, ILESTIMATED 50 TO 60 MPH WINDS.
21:02 UTCTSTM WND GST 563 Ne GalesburgKnox, ILI-74 AT RAILROAD TRACKS SOUTH OF US-34 EXIT.
21:07 UTCTSTM WND GST 702 Ne AtkinsonHenry, IL
21:08 UTCTORNADO4 Ne AtkinsonHenry, IL50 YARDS WIDE AND 1 MILE LONG. POLEBARN DESTROYED. NUMEROUS TREES DOWN IN THE NARROW PATH. TIN WRAPPED AROUND TOPS OF TREES.
21:15 UTCHAIL 0.752 W MolineRock Island, ILRELAYED REPORT OF TREES DOWN ALONG AVENUE OF THE CITIES IN MOLINE AND POWER OUTAGES.
21:20 UTCTSTM WND DMGTampicoWhiteside, ILTREE BRANCH 2.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER DOWN.
21:21 UTCTSTM WND DMGNew BedfordBureau, ILTREES SPLIT IN HALF
21:27 UTCTSTM WND GST 60Rock FallsWhiteside, ILWIND GUSTS ESTIMATED 55 TO 60 MPH.
21:29 UTCTSTM WND DMG7 Sw WaltonLee, ILTHIS 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 UTCTSTM WND GST 70SterlingWhiteside, IL
21:32 UTCTORNADO2 S HarmonLee, ILTHIS 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 UTCTSTM WND DMGAmboyLee, ILSHEET METAL BUILDINGS DAMAGED AND GRAIN BINS BLOWN OVER. TIME ESTIMATED.
21:35 UTCTSTM WND DMGRock FallsWhiteside, ILLARGE TREE ON A HOUSE.
21:35 UTCTORNADOWaltonLee, ILREPORT OF A TORNADO NEAR WALTON. DAMAGE ALSO REPORTED. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
21:37 UTCTSTM WND GST 100WaltonLee, ILTHIS 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 UTCTSTM WND DMGEast MolineRock Island, ILMAJOR TREE DAMAGE WITH MANY TREES DOWN. FROM E-SPOTTER.
21:39 UTCTSTM WND DMGMaldenBureau, ILLARGE TWO AND A HALF FOOT DIAMETER TREE DOWN...WITH SEVERAL BRANCES DOWN IN TOWN...TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
21:40 UTCTSTM WND DMGHennepinPutnam, ILBRANCHES 1-2 INCHES IN DIAMETER DOWN.
21:40 UTCTSTM WND DMGVan OrinBureau, ILLARGE ELM TREE DOWN. NUMEROUS BRANCHES DOWN. SHEET OF PLYWOOD BLEW ACROSS THE ROAD.
21:40 UTCTSTM WND DMGSubletteLee, IL4 TO 18 INCH DIAMETER TREE BRANCHES DOWN. POWER LINES DOWN.
21:45 UTCTSTM WND DMGLa MoilleBureau, IL3 INCH DIAMETER TREE SPLIT IN HALF DUE TO HIGH WINDS.
21:46 UTCTSTM WND GST 55HennepinPutnam, IL
00:06 UTCHEAVY RAIN 3.81 W CambridgeHenry, ILSTORM TOTAL.

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.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 243:08 PM CDTEF1Muscatine, IA6.51001$500,000
June 244:32 PM CDTEF0Lee, IL2.8100$10,000
June 244:33 PM CDTEF0Bureau, IL0.675$10,000
June 248:24 PM EDTEF0Pinellas, FL1.910

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.