Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2014
EF1 tornado, LaSalle County, Illinois, June 30, 2014
This EF1 tornado ran 1.5 miles across LaSalle County on June 30, 2014, touching down at 9:16 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $250,000 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 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
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
- EF1
- Date
- June 30, 2014
- Touchdown
- 9:16 PM CDT (02:16 UTC)
- Lifted
- 9:17 PM CDT (02:17 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 1.5 miles (2.4 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $250,000
- County
- LaSalle County
- Touchdown point
- 41.589, -88.953
- Lift-off point
- 41.585, -88.924
- Record number
- 1406302016-01
The damage survey
19 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LOT, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EFU. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.
- Garage door blown in, west-facing garage wall partially collapsed, portion of garage roof removed. Large sections of roof material removed.
- Multiple trees uprooted to the E and ENE.
- Aerial imagery from ABC7 shows clear convergent pattern in crops.
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
The warnings
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 02:01 UTC and running to 03:59 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:35 UTC | 13:15 UTC | Flood Advisory | LOT |
| 19:05 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Tornado Watch | LOT |
| 23:00 UTC | 06:39 UTC | Flash Flood Watch | LOT |
| 01:50 UTC | 02:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT |
| 02:01 UTC | 03:59 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | LOT |
| 02:18 UTC | 03:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT |
| 02:27 UTC | 03:04 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT |
| 02:37 UTC | 06:30 UTC | Flood Advisory | LOT |
| 03:52 UTC | 16:44 UTC | Flood Advisory | LOT |
| 13:00 UTC | 07:57 UTC | Flood Warning | LOT |
| 13:00 UTC | 03:47 UTC | Flood Watch | LOT |
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 01:00 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
2.3 hours before the tornado, 130 km from the path. July 1, 2014.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 157 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -178 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 8 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1059 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 63 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 27 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 268 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 552 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 5.3
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.9 K/km
Davenport, (KDVN), 12:00Z
9.7 hours after it, 130 km from the path. July 1, 2014.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -76817 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1190 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 42 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 25 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 71 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 124 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.9 K/km
The surface observations
Peru (VYS), 32 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:36 UTC | 69.8 | 68 | 130° 5 kt | 1005.1 | ||
| 01:36 UTC | 69.8 | 68 | 140° 4 kt | 1004.7 | ||
| 02:36 UTC | 64.4 | 62.6 | 310° 13 kt | 33 | 1010.8 | +TSRA |
| 02:56 UTC | 64.4 | 64.4 | 330° 5 kt | 1008.5 | TSRA | |
| 03:17 UTC | 64.4 | 64.4 | 0° 0 kt | 1007.1 | -TSRA | |
| 03:36 UTC | 66.2 | 64.4 | 90° 6 kt | 1005.8 | -TSRA | |
| 03:58 UTC | 66.2 | 64.4 | 150° 11 kt | 1006.8 | -VCTSRA |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Chicago radar (KLOT), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Ottawa | La Salle, IL | 12 INCH DIAMETER TREE BRANCHES DOWN. |
| 00:30 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 0.47 | Yorkville | Kendall, IL | RAIN FELL IN 45 MINUTES. |
| 01:00 UTC | TSTM WND GST 50 | Streator | La Salle, IL | |
| 01:21 UTC | TSTM WND GST 50 | 1 W De Kalb | De Kalb, IL | 0.79 INCHES OF RAIN FELL IN 20 MINUTES. |
| 01:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Oregon | Ogle, IL | NUMEROUS LARGE TREES DOWNED. TIME ESTIMATED PER RADAR. |
| 01:52 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Amboy | Lee, IL | TREES DOWN. |
| 01:59 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Amboy | Lee, IL | MULTIPLE LARGE TREES THAT ARE SEVERAL FEET IN DIAMETER UPROOTED. TIME ESTIMATED PER RADAR. |
| 02:07 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Amboy | Lee, IL | PEA TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL. |
| 02:08 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Amboy | Lee, IL | NUMEROUS TREES DOWN. GUSTS WERE MEASURED AT 57 MPH. ALSO HAD PEA SIZE HAIL. |
| 02:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 E Mendota | La Salle, IL | 2 SEMI-TRUCKS FLIPPED OVER ON I39. NUMEROUS TREE BRANCHES DOWN IN TOWN. |
| 02:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Mendota | La Salle, IL | 2 SEMI-TRUCKS FLIPPED OVER ON I39. NUMEROUS TREE BRANCHES DOWN IN TOWN. |
| 02:10 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Amboy | Lee, IL | CREEK OVER ITS BANKS. |
| 02:12 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Utica | La Salle, IL | ON E 11TH RD - MULTIPLE TREES UPROOTED RANGING IN DIAMTER FROM 12 TO 36 INCHES. |
| 02:15 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 2.2 | Amboy | Lee, IL | RAINFALL SINCE 530 PM. |
| 02:16 UTC | TORNADO | 1 W Earlville | La Salle, IL | NWS STORM SURVEY CONFIRMED AN EF-1 TORNADO WITH MAXIMUM WINDS OF 110 MPH THAT HAD A PATH LENGTH OF 1.5 MILES FROM 1.5W OF EARLVILLE TO 0.5SW OF EARLVILLE. DAMAGE INCLUDED NUMEROUS TREES DOWNED AS WELL AS TO ROOFS WITH ON |
| 02:17 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Earlville | La Salle, IL | DAMAGE TO AT LEAST ONE BUILDING AND TWO MOBILE HOMES. NUMEROUS TREES SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. TIME ESTIMATED PER RADAR. |
| 02:31 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 S Sheridan | La Salle, IL | LARGE TREE DOWNED. TIME ESTIMATED PER RADAR. |
| 02:38 UTC | TSTM WND GST 61 | Aurora | Kane, IL | |
| 02:38 UTC | TORNADO | 5 W Lisbon | Kendall, IL | NWS STORM SURVEY CONFIRMED AN EF-1 TORNADO WITH MAXIMUM WINDS OF 100 MPH THAT HAD A PATH LENGTH OF 1.5 MILES FROM 4.8W OF LISBON TO 4.5WSW OF LISBON. DAMAGE WAS DONE TO TWO FARMSTEADS INCLUDING AN OUBUILDING DESTROYED AN |
| 02:44 UTC | TORNADO | 5 Nnw Morris | Grundy, IL | AN NWS STORM DAMAGE SURVEY TEAM DETERMINED VIA AN AERIAL SURVEY THAT AN EF-0 TORNADO OCCURRED FOR A PATH LENGTH OF 2 MILES. TIME ESTIMATED PER RADAR. |
| 02:48 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Morris | Grundy, IL | 200 TO 300 TREES DOWN IN MORRIS, SOME ON HOUSES, WHICH CAUSED SOME DAMAGE. 85 TO 90 PERCENT OF THE CITY WITHOUT POWER. SOME ROADS BLOCKED BY TREES AND POWER LINES. |
| 02:49 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Morris | Grundy, IL | NWS STORM SURVEY CONFIRMED STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS CAUSED WIDESPREAD DAMAGE. THIS INCLUDES A MASS AMOUNT OF TREES DOWNED AND STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO A WAREHOUSE BUILDING. POWER POLES WERE ALSO SNAPPED. |
| 02:49 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Morris | Grundy, IL | NWS STORM SURVEY CONFIRMED STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS CAUSED WIDESPREAD DAMAGE. THIS INCLUDES A MASS AMOUNT OF TREES DOWNED AND STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO A WAREHOUSE BUILDING. POWER POLES WERE ALSO SNAPPED. THIS DAMAGE IS CONSISTENT |
| 02:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 E Morris | Grundy, IL | LOTS OF TREES DOWN IN A YARD ALONG GUN CLUB ROAD. ALSO SAW POWER FLASHES. WIND LASTED ABOUT 5 MINUTES. |
| 02:50 UTC | TSTM WND GST 65 | Morris | Grundy, IL | NUMEROUS TREES DOWN IN TOWN. |
| 02:53 UTC | TSTM WND GST 75 | Oswego | Kendall, IL | NEAR INTERSECTION OF US30 AND US34. |
| 02:55 UTC | TSTM WND GST 61 | 4 Nnw Coal City | Grundy, IL | |
| 03:00 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Granville | Putnam, IL | MANY ROADS CLOSED IN COUNTY DUE TO EVENING FLASH FLOOD EVENT. SITUATION IS STABLE AND IMPROVING AS OF 130 AM. TIME AND LOCATION ESTIMATED FOR COUNTY WIDE EVENT. |
| 03:05 UTC | TSTM WND GST 67 | 1 W Carbon Hill | Grundy, IL | |
| 03:34 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Oswego | Kendall, IL | 5 TO 6 FOOT DIAMETER TREE SNAPPED IN TWO. AT JEEP HOUSE RD IL-31. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 30, 2014
45 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 30 | 12:42 PM CDT | EF1 | Adair, IA | 7.1 | 200 | $200,000 | ||
| June 30 | 1:02 PM CDT | EF1 | Story, IA | 12.0 | 460 | $220,000 | ||
| June 30 | 1:13 PM CDT | EF1 | Madison, IA | 1.3 | 75 | $10,000 | ||
| June 30 | 1:15 PM CDT | EF0 | Marshall, IA | 6.5 | 150 | $52,000 | ||
| June 30 | 1:15 PM CDT | EF1 | Madison, IA | 6.4 | 400 | $100,000 | ||
| June 30 | 1:27 PM CDT | EF1 | Warren, IA | 2.0 | 190 | $1,000 | ||
| June 30 | 2:02 PM CDT | EF2 | Tama, IA | 3.7 | 150 | $150,000 | ||
| June 30 | 2:27 PM CDT | EF1 | Benton, IA | 0.4 | 75 | |||
| June 30 | 4:40 PM CDT | EF0 | Nodaway, MO | 3.5 | 200 | |||
| June 30 | 5:20 PM MDT | EF0 | Baca, CO | 0.3 | 50 | |||
| June 30 | 6:43 PM CDT | EF1 | Worth, MO | 2.1 | 300 | |||
| June 30 | 7:53 PM CDT | EF0 | Harrison, MO | 3.0 | 200 | |||
| June 30 | 9:34 PM CDT | EF1 | Clay, MO | 0.8 | 200 | |||
| June 30 | 9:38 PM CDT | EF1 | Kendall, IL | 1.1 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| June 30 | 9:44 PM CDT | EF0 | Grundy, IL | 2.2 | 50 | |||
| June 30 | 9:55 PM CDT | EF1 | Will, IL | 3.1 | 75 | $500,000 | ||
| June 30 | 10:22 PM CDT | EF1 | Kankakee, IL | 10.3 | 150 | $20,000 | ||
| June 30 | 10:23 PM CDT | EF0 | Kankakee, IL | 3.1 | 45 | $133,000 | ||
| June 30 | 10:24 PM CDT | EF1 | Kankakee, IL | 2.7 | 110 | $158,000 | ||
| June 30 | 10:25 PM CDT | EF1 | Kankakee, IL | 5.5 | 450 | $166,000 | ||
| June 30 | 10:26 PM CDT | EF1 | Kankakee, IL | 3.2 | 110 | $166,000 | ||
| June 30 | 10:29 PM CDT | EF1 | Kankakee, IL to IN | 15.8 | 175 | |||
| June 30 | 10:30 PM CDT | EF0 | Kankakee, IL | 4.4 | 295 | $8,000 | ||
| June 30 | 10:32 PM CDT | EF2 | Kankakee, IL | 3.9 | 240 | $500,000 | ||
| June 30 | 10:33 PM CDT | EF0 | Lake, IL to IN | 0.7 | 120 | |||
| June 30 | 10:33 PM CDT | EF1 | Lake, IL to IN | 8.7 | 415 | $256,000 | ||
| June 30 | 10:37 PM CDT | EF1 | Lake, IL to IN | 1.6 | 175 | |||
| June 30 | 10:38 PM CDT | EF1 | Lake, IN | 3.8 | 260 | $86,000 | ||
| June 30 | 10:39 PM CDT | EF1 | Lake, IN | 3.2 | 370 | |||
| June 30 | 10:42 PM CDT | EF1 | Lake, IN | 2.2 | 315 | $28,000 | ||
| June 30 | 10:42 PM CDT | EF1 | Newton, IN | 13.2 | 395 | $180,000 | ||
| June 30 | 10:44 PM CDT | EF2 | Lake, IN | 3.2 | 295 | $250,000 | ||
| June 30 | 10:46 PM CDT | EF1 | Lake, IN | 2.1 | 185 | $25,000 | ||
| June 30 | 10:56 PM CDT | EF1 | Jasper, IN | 1.9 | 100 | $10,000 | ||
| June 30 | 11:11 PM CDT | EF1 | LaPorte, IN | 0.3 | 200 | |||
| June 30 | 11:24 PM CDT | EF1 | LaPorte, IN | 4.7 | 200 | |||
| June 30 | 11:25 PM CDT | EF1 | Starke, IN | 4.9 | 400 | |||
| June 30 | 11:29 PM CDT | EF1 | Starke, IN | 4.8 | 400 | |||
| June 30 | 12:35 AM EDT | EF1 | Marshall, IN | 6.8 | 150 | |||
| June 30 | 12:41 AM EDT | EF1 | Marshall, IN | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| June 30 | 1:06 AM EDT | EF1 | Kosciusko, IN | 0.6 | 150 | |||
| June 30 | 1:06 AM EDT | EF0 | Kosciusko, IN | 1.8 | 50 | |||
| June 30 | 1:08 AM EDT | EF1 | Wabash, IN | 7.0 | 150 | |||
| June 30 | 1:22 AM EDT | EF1 | Whitley, IN | 0.5 | 50 | |||
| June 30 | 1:38 AM EDT | EF1 | LaGrange, IN | 0.9 | 50 |
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.