EF1 tornado, Brownstown to Sefton, Illinois, February 20, 2014

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

February 20, 2014

Touchdown

4:36 PM CST (22:36 UTC)

Lifted

4:42 PM CST (22:42 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

4.8 miles (7.7 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Fayette County

Touchdown point

39.016, -88.998

Lift-off point

39.063, -88.932

Record number

1402201636-01

9 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LSX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 105 mph.

• Machine shed damaged. Minor roof panneling uplifted.
• Large machine shed completely destroyed. Debris metal panneling was tossed over 1/3 mile mainly to the north. Numerous pieces of the metal panelling tossed to the north.
• Machine shed damaged. The south and east sides of machine damaged. Roof and side panneling on east and south side completely removed.
• Second transmission line pole snapped at the based.

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

A strong cold front moved through the region, triggering showers and thunderstorms. There were several reports of damaging winds and large hail. Also, four tornadoes occurred in our area.

The tornado developed 2.8 miles northwest of Brownstown or 0.3 miles north of the intersection of County Roads 1900N and 1375E. One large old tree was down while several large branches along a row of trees were snapped two thirds up the trunk. The damage path was approximately 40 yards wide and damage intensity was rated EF0. Two witnesses observed the tornado near the intersection of County Roads 2000N and 1450E. The tornado was rain wrapped and skipped over this area. One large machine shed was damaged about 150 yards southwest of this intersection while the southern part of another barn southeast of the intersection was severely damaged. Debris from both structures were tossed about one third mile to the northeast. At the intersection of 2100N and 1600E three tall wooden transmission line poles were snapped two thirds up the pole at this intersection. Approximately 50 yards to the southeast of this intersection a medium size machine shed was severely damaged with the east and south sides of the shed shredded and tossed one third mile to the northeast. The tornado continued northeast and destroyed a large machine shed housing farm equipment. The tornado totally shredded the metal panels and tossed them over one third mile to the north. A medium size machine shed approximately one half mile to the northeast of the large machine shed lost a few metal roof panels. The tornado lifted and dissipated about 5.5 miles north northeast of Brownstown. The maximum intensity was EF1 with a maximum wind speed of 105 mph. The total path length was 4.8 miles with a maximum width 50 yards.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:36 UTC and running to 22:45 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 19:37 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 Lincoln radar (KILX), 128 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:37 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 2014 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

33 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.