EF2 tornado, Smithshire to Surrey, Illinois, July 16, 2015

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

July 16, 2015

Touchdown

7:13 PM CDT (00:13 UTC)

Lifted

7:34 PM CDT (00:34 UTC)

On the ground

21 minutes

Path length

6.0 miles (9.6 km)

Path width

700 yards (640 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$1.5 million

County

Warren County

Touchdown point

40.889, -90.594

Lift-off point

40.892, -90.480

Record number

1507161813-01

44 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DVN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 122 mph.

• crop damage. apparent end of path
• Building reportedly falling in on itself before tornado
• mobile home debris thrown into tower caused it to collapse
• detached garage destroyed(doors to the east)

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

A wave on a northward moving warm front produced scattered thunderstorms along the boundary. Low level shear was favorable for severe weather and tornadoes.

Tornado strength rating of EF-1. Maximum estimated wind of 90 MPH. Tornado path length of 1.41 miles. Tornado path maximum width of 50 yards. Tornado start time roughly 649 PM CDT. Tornado path start location roughly 2.4 MILES north of Smithshire IL. Tornado end time of roughly 651 PM CDT. Tornado path end location of 1.9 miles South of Kirkwood IL. Trees and outbuildings damaged and a semi blown over on Highway 34.

An EF2 tornado with maximum wind estimated at 120 MPH touched down 2.6 miles east of Kirkwood, IL. The tornado traveled approximately 1.7 miles and lifted 3.2 miles southwest of Monmouth, IL. The maximum path width was about 300 yards. Along the path, the tornado destroyed a grain bin and a cattle barn at Shauman's Corner about 6.4 miles southwest of Monmouth on US 34. Power poles were also snapped.

An EF-2 tornado with winds estimated at 125 mph tracked about 6 miles from east of Monmouth through the town of Cameron before lifting. A maximum path width of 700 yards was estimated in Cameron. The tornado began at 713 pm CDT 1 mile southeast of Monmouth and lifted at 734 pm 2.2 miles east of Cameron. The most intense damage occurred in Cameron where at least 3 homes were unroofed, numerous garages and outbuildings were destroyed, and a large grain bin at the elevator was destroyed.

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

38 minutes of warning. NWS DVN issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:35 UTC, 38 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 21:58 UTC and running to 02:11 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 19:50 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 Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:13 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.

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 2015 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

8 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.