Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2016

EF1 tornado, Buckingham, Illinois, July 17, 2016

This EF1 tornado ran 2.2 miles across Kankakee County on July 17, 2016, touching down at 9:41 PM CDT and reaching 100 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
July 17, 2016
Touchdown
9:41 PM CDT (02:41 UTC)
Lifted
9:48 PM CDT (02:48 UTC)
On the ground
7 minutes
Path length
2.2 miles (3.5 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Kankakee County
Touchdown point
41.000, -88.192
Lift-off point
40.999, -88.151
Record number
1607172041-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Very warm and moist conditions developed ahead of a cold front, which allowed strong to severe thunderstorms to develop.

The tornado started approximately three quarters of a mile east-northeast of Cabery. As it crossed S 17000W Rd, there were several large metal corrugated pipes probably 10 feet in diameter rolled long distances. The tornado headed east to S 16000W Rd, and a farm outbuilding lost its roof and part of the walls collapsed. Two grain bins were destroyed. Many power lines down 7-8 mile south of Rt. 17.

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

The warnings

28 minutes of warning. NWS LOT issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:13 UTC, 28 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:45 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 02:02 UTC and running to 06:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
01:43 UTC02:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT
02:02 UTC06:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchLOT
02:03 UTC02:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT
02:13 UTC02:45 UTCTornado WarningLOT
02:25 UTC02:49 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT
02:45 UTC03:15 UTCTornado WarningLOT
05:28 UTC09:00 UTCFlood AdvisoryLOT
05:53 UTC11:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningLOT
15:46 UTC03:30 UTCFlood WarningLOT

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.

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

2.7 hours before the tornado, 101 km from the path. July 18, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2016-07-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3314 joules per kilogram, CIN -37, lifted condensation level 1062 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2016-07-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 197 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 39 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
3314 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-37 J/kg
Surface CAPE
5881 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1062 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
197 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
237 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
3.3
Supercell composite
26.5
0-3 km lapse rate
6.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 12:00Z

9.3 hours after it, 101 km from the path. July 18, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2016-07-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2983 joules per kilogram, CIN -14, lifted condensation level 717 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2016-07-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 56 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
2983 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-14 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2665 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
717 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
56 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
57 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.0
Supercell composite
4.9
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 68 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:41 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
02:05 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD3 Se DwightLivingston, ILREPORTED AS POSSIBLE TORNADO. ANOTHER REPORT FROM TRAINED SPOTTER LOOKING NORTHEAST FROM ODELL SEES WALLL CLOUD AND POSSIBLE FUNNEL ILLUMINATED BY LIGHTNING.
02:35 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Sw HerscherFord, ILPOWER LINES DOWN, TWO GRAIN BINS DESTROYED, AND HALF A SHED IN A FIELD. POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE.
02:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Sw HerscherKankakee, ILPOWER LINES DOWN ACROSS 16000 WEST COUNTY ROAD, 7-8 MILES SOUTH OF IL RT 17.
02:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Sw HerscherKankakee, ILPOWER LINES DOWN ON 16000 WEST COUNTY ROAD WEST OF KANKAKEE ABOUT 7-8 MILES SOUTH OF IL RT 17. REPORT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA.
02:50 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD4 E KemptonFord, ILPOSSIBLE TORNADO MAY HAVE SEEN A COUPLE POWER FLASHES
02:51 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ssw HerscherKankakee, ILMINOR STRUCTURAL DAMAGE, ROOF OFF SHED, AND LARGE BRANCHES DOWN. POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE.
03:43 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD3 Se ChebanseIroquois, ILMULTIPLE REPORTS OF A FUNNEL CLOUD.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of July 17, 2016

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 174:58 AM CDTEF2Benton, IA1.61005
July 175:15 AM CDTEF2Benton, IA4.0754$275,000
July 176:03 AM CDTEF1Jackson, IA1.050$5.0 million
July 176:27 AM CDTEF0Scott, IA1.910
July 176:36 AM CDTEF1Scott, IA2.1100
July 178:30 AM CDTEF0Galveston, TX0.020
July 174:00 PM MDTEF0Bernalillo, NM0.05
July 178:18 PM CDTEF0Putnam, IL1.225
July 178:24 PM CDTEF0Putnam, IL0.225

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.