Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2014
EF1 tornado, Saint Clair County, Illinois, October 13, 2014
This EF1 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Saint Clair County on October 13, 2014, touching down at 1:43 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody.
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
- October 13, 2014
- Touchdown
- 1:43 PM CDT (18:43 UTC)
- Lifted
- 1:44 PM CDT (18:44 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.3 miles (0.4 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Saint Clair County
- Touchdown point
- 38.536, -89.725
- Lift-off point
- 38.540, -89.724
- Record number
- 1410131243-01
The warnings
21 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:22 UTC, 21 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:45 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 15:29 UTC and running to 20:22 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15:29 UTC | 20:22 UTC | Tornado Watch | LSX |
| 17:44 UTC | 18:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX |
| 18:22 UTC | 18:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | LSX |
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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:34 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.
Lincoln, IL (KILX), 12:00Z
6.7 hours before the tornado, 204 km from the path. October 13, 2014.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 21 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -2 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 9 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 453 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 25 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 130 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 129 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.8 K/km
Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z
5.3 hours after it, 204 km from the path. October 14, 2014.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -277 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 90 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 953 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 55 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 38 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 148 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 160 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.2 K/km
The surface observations
Belleville - Scott AFB (BLV), 11 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16:52 UTC | 68 | 68 | 140° 10 kt | 17 | 1005.1 | |
| 16:58 UTC | 68 | 68 | 140° 12 kt | 1004.7 | ||
| 17:01 UTC | 68 | 68 | 140° 11 kt | 1004.7 | -RA | |
| 17:31 UTC | 68 | 68 | 140° 10 kt | 1004.4 | -DZ | |
| 17:36 UTC | 68 | 68 | 160° 7 kt | 1004.1 | +RA | |
| 17:46 UTC | 68 | 68 | 150° 11 kt | 17 | 1003.7 | -RA BR |
| 17:56 UTC | 68 | 68 | 150° 10 kt | 1003.7 | -RA | |
| 17:58 UTC | 68.54 | 68.54 | 140° 10 kt | 1003.7 | -RA | |
| 18:03 UTC | 68 | 68 | 150° 11 kt | 1003.4 | -RA | |
| 18:08 UTC | 68 | 68 | 140° 12 kt | 17 | 1003 | -RA |
| 18:23 UTC | 68 | 68 | 130° 14 kt | 1002.4 | -RA | |
| 18:33 UTC | 68 | 68 | 150° 15 kt | 20 | 1002.7 | RA BR |
| 18:35 UTC | 68 | 68 | 180° 11 kt | 20 | 1003.4 | +RA BR |
| 18:40 UTC | 68 | 68 | 200° 13 kt | 18 | 1003.4 | +RA BR |
| 18:46 UTC | 68 | 68 | 200° 12 kt | 19 | 1003.4 | RA BR |
| 18:51 UTC | 68 | 68 | 200° 13 kt | 19 | 1003 | RA BR |
| 18:58 UTC | 67.28 | 67.28 | 190° 8 kt | 18 | 1003 | RA BR |
| 19:03 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 190° 9 kt | 17 | 1002.7 | RA BR |
| 19:13 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 160° 10 kt | 16 | 1002.7 | -RA BR |
| 19:15 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 160° 8 kt | 16 | 1002.7 | BR |
| 19:21 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 170° 7 kt | 16 | 1002.7 | -RA |
| 19:40 UTC | 64.4 | 64.4 | 190° 7 kt | 1002.4 | BR | |
| 19:42 UTC | 64.4 | 64.4 | 180° 9 kt | 1002 | -RA BR | |
| 19:58 UTC | 64.58 | 64.58 | 170° 6 kt | 1002 | RA BR | |
| 20:08 UTC | 64.4 | 64.4 | 160° 9 kt | 14 | 1001.7 | RA BR |
| 20:13 UTC | 64.4 | 64.4 | 170° 10 kt | 15 | 1002 | -RA BR |
| 20:18 UTC | 64.4 | 64.4 | 170° 11 kt | 20 | 1001.7 | -RA BR VCTS |
| 20:21 UTC | 64.4 | 64.4 | 170° 12 kt | 20 | 1001.4 | VCTS |
| 20:26 UTC | 64.4 | 64.4 | 160° 12 kt | 19 | 1001 | -RA VCTS |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The St Louis radar (KLSX), 85 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:43 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17:57 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Ruma | Randolph, IL | LARGE PORTIONS OF ROOFS BLOWN HUNDREDS OF YARDS AWAY...NUMEROUS LARGE TREES DOWN AND A BARN DAMAGED IN TOWN. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 18:23 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Nnw Freeburg | St. Clair, IL | DAMAGE TO SEVERAL ROOFS AND TREES NEAR THE BEND IN SR13-15 NEAR JEFFERSON ROAD. POSSIBLY MAPLE HILLS AND LAKE HILLS SUBDIVISIONS |
| 18:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | New Baden | Clinton, IL | BARN COLLAPSE. ANOTHER BARN WITH ROOF BLOWN OFF. ALSO SHEET METAL STUCK INTO TREES. DAMAGE POSSIBLY FROM TORNADO. |
| 18:51 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Nnw Freeburg | St. Clair, IL | DAMAGE TO SEVERAL ROOFS AND TREES NEAR THE BEND IN SR13-15 NEAR JEFFERSON ROAD. POSSIBLY MAPLE HILLS AND LAKE HILLS SUBDIVISIONS |
| 20:55 UTC | TSTM WND GST 46 | 3 Nw Walnut Hill | Marion, IL |
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 October 13, 2014
34 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 13 | 4:52 AM CDT | EF1 | Upshur, TX | 5.8 | 275 | $1.0 million | ||
| October 13 | 5:04 AM CDT | EF1 | Polk, AR | 3.7 | 300 | $50,000 | ||
| October 13 | 5:19 AM CDT | EF1 | Madison, AR | 3.0 | 375 | $150,000 | ||
| October 13 | 5:37 AM CDT | EF2 | Little River, AR | 2.5 | 400 | 1 | 4 | $200,000 |
| October 13 | 5:43 AM CDT | EF0 | Little River, AR | 0.1 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| October 13 | 6:25 AM CDT | EF1 | Stone, MO | 0.1 | 75 | $5,000 | ||
| October 13 | 6:58 AM CDT | EF0 | Lawrence, MO | 0.1 | 50 | $5,000 | ||
| October 13 | 7:20 AM CDT | EF0 | Greene, MO | 0.4 | 100 | |||
| October 13 | 7:40 AM CDT | EF1 | Clark, AR | 3.3 | 250 | $150,000 | ||
| October 13 | 9:00 AM CDT | EF1 | De Soto Parish, LA | 0.9 | 200 | |||
| October 13 | 9:27 AM CDT | EF1 | Lonoke, AR | 3.3 | 150 | $75,000 | ||
| October 13 | 11:11 AM CDT | EF1 | Ouachita Parish, LA | 0.7 | 225 | $250,000 | ||
| October 13 | 11:16 AM CDT | EF2 | Ouachita Parish, LA | 9.1 | 300 | $3.8 million | ||
| October 13 | 12:48 PM CDT | EF0 | Clay, AR | 0.9 | 100 | $70,000 | ||
| October 13 | 12:59 PM CDT | EF0 | Randolph, IL | 0.3 | 50 | |||
| October 13 | 1:24 PM CDT | EF1 | Saint Clair, IL | 1.4 | 100 | |||
| October 13 | 1:30 PM CDT | EF1 | Stoddard, MO | 9.3 | 75 | $53,000 | ||
| October 13 | 1:45 PM CDT | EF1 | Bollinger, MO | 7.2 | 100 | $250,000 | ||
| October 13 | 2:02 PM CDT | EF1 | Bollinger, MO | 2.0 | 50 | $20,000 | ||
| October 13 | 3:54 PM CDT | EF2 | Macon, IL | 10.0 | 200 | $260,000 | ||
| October 13 | 4:06 PM CDT | EF1 | Jefferson, IL | 3.5 | 100 | $10,000 | ||
| October 13 | 4:07 PM CDT | EF1 | Jefferson, IL | 0.7 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| October 13 | 4:12 PM CDT | EF1 | Macon, IL | 0.2 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| October 13 | 4:20 PM CDT | EF0 | Calhoun, FL | 2.6 | 30 | |||
| October 13 | 4:29 PM CDT | EF0 | Macon, IL | 2.8 | 50 | |||
| October 13 | 4:43 PM CDT | EF0 | Marion, AL | 6.0 | 50 | |||
| October 13 | 5:25 PM CDT | EF1 | Posey, IN | 3.8 | 150 | $30,000 | ||
| October 13 | 6:09 PM CDT | EF1 | Montgomery, TN | 4.2 | 75 | $50,000 | ||
| October 13 | 6:48 PM CDT | EF0 | Lamar, AL | 1.1 | 150 | |||
| October 13 | 8:29 PM EDT | EF0 | Franklin, FL | 0.0 | 20 | |||
| October 13 | 7:29 PM CDT | EF1 | Colbert, AL | 3.5 | 200 | 1 | ||
| October 13 | 8:50 PM EDT | EF0 | Liberty, FL | 0.0 | 20 | |||
| October 13 | 9:59 PM EDT | EF0 | Liberty, FL | 2.1 | 20 | $5,000 | ||
| October 13 | 10:58 PM EDT | EF0 | Liberty, FL | 0.0 | 20 |
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.