EF2 tornado, Martinsburg to Detroit, 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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

February 20, 2014

Touchdown

2:25 PM CST (20:25 UTC)

Lifted

2:35 PM CST (20:35 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

12.1 miles (19.5 km)

Path width

80 yards (73 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

County

Pike County

Touchdown point

39.518, -90.841

Lift-off point

39.633, -90.670

Record number

1402201425-01

13 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LSX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 120 mph.

• Three large trees uprooted
• Numerous trees snapped half way up. A few were uprooted.
• Metal farm building was completely destroyed with the metal pieces scattered up to 1/2 mile downwind. Watson Cemetery adjacent to the building had a few tombstones blown over. Large tree limbs snapped at Watson Cemetery. Metal debris from the farm building was found in the tree.
• Two grain bins blown away and a machine shed destroyed. Grain bins were empty and unanchored.

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 over the north side of Martinsburg, Illinois. One home sustained minor roof and fascia damage and one window was damaged along the south side of the home. A few large trees and several large branches were downed by the tornado. The tornado then traveled east-northeast and sheared a path of large pine trees 30 to 40 feet tall half a mile north of Martinsburg along and west of County Road 11. Many of the pine trees were snapped from near the base to half way up the trunk. The width of this damage area was 80 yards. The next damage was found approximately 300 yards south of the intersection of County Road 7 and 205th Avenue. A one story residence home sustained minor fascia damage and a few pine trees were snapped at the bases. The tornado then totally destroyed a medium size machine shed on the south side of Watsons Cemetery east of the intersection. Several tomb stones were damaged. Approximately 300 yards east of the cemetery another farmstead sustained damage. Two empty medium size grain bins were destroyed while another machine shed was destroyed. Damage was found again at another farmstead located 1 mile west of Detroit, Illinois. The east side of a two story farm house was moved off its foundation by 5 inches while part of the east side of the roof was tossed to the east. The upper half of a large barn was removed and tossed to the east. One old machine shed was completely destroyed while two canvas hoop sheds were completely destroyed. Debris from the machine sheds were tossed a quarter of a mile to the east. The tornado crossed Illinois Route 106 about a mile west of Detroit and damaged several large trees. The tornado then directly hit a hog building which was supported by steel I-beams. The southern part of the structure was pushed to the north and northeast. Debris from the roof of this structure was tossed over half a mile to the northeast. The damage width over this area was 80 yards wide. Damage to this structure was rated EF-2. The tornado continued to the northeast destroying a shed before lifting and dissipating about a mile north northeast of Detroit. Several people were in the area of the shed working on repairing fencing. One man sustained a minor shoulder injury and was taken to the hospital. The maximum intensity was EF2 with a maximum wind speed of 120 mph. The total path length was 12.09 miles with a maximum width 80 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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:36 UTC and running to 21:06 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. 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.

Pittsfield (PPQ), 7 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 98 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:24 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.