EF0 tornado, Womac to Barnett, Illinois, November 17, 2013

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0

Date

November 17, 2013

Touchdown

11:30 AM CST (17:30 UTC)

Lifted

11:34 AM CST (17:34 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

4.0 miles (6.4 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Macoupin and Montgomery counties

Touchdown point

39.235, -89.725

Lift-off point

39.279, -89.679

Record number

1311171130-01

3 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LSX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 74 mph.

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

Strong cold front moved through the region with plenty of lift, moisture and instability. Numerous severe storms developed and raced east across forecast area. There were numerous reports of large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes. Also, because of a tight gradient with this system non-thunderstorm winds gusted in excess of 40 mph in a number of locations.

Despite photographic evidence of a large tornado northwest of Litchfield, only minor damage to power poles and one barn was observed. The tornado initially touched down in Macoupin County on Litchfield Road about 1.3 miles west of the Macoupin/Montgomery county line. It travelled to the northeast only causing minor tree damage rated EF0 in Macoupin County. It then crossed the Macoupin/Montgomery county line about four tenths of a mile south of North 18th Avenue. Most of the area where the tornado occurred was bare farm fields which did not have any damage indicators. The path length of the tornado in Macoupin County was 2.11 miles with a max path width of 20 yards. The damage for this segment was estimated to be EF0. Overall, the entire tornado path length was 3.98 miles with a max path width of 50 yards and a maximum damage rating of EF0.

Despite photographic evidence of a large tornado northwest of Litchfield, only minor damage to power poles and one barn was observed. The tornado crossed the Macoupin/Montgomery county line into Montgomery County about four tenths of a mile south of North 18th Avenue. The tornado caused some minor tree damage on Barnett Trail. It continued to the northeast causing moderate roof damage to a barn on the south side of Illinois Route 108, just west of intersection with Pipeline Road before lifting and dissipating. Most of the area where the tornado occurred was bare farm fields which did not have any damage indicators. The path length of the tornado in Montgomery County was 1.87 miles with a max path width of 50 yards. The damage for this segment was estimated to be EF0. Overall, the entire tornado path length was 3.98 miles with a max path width of 50 yards and a maximum damage rating of EF0.

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

19 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 17:11 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 17:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 14:40 UTC and running to 19:03 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 High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 16:30 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.

Litchfield (3LF), 11 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 104 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:31 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 2013 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

75 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 76 of them

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.