Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2016

EF0 tornado, Saint Clair County, Illinois, June 13, 2016

This EF0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Saint Clair County on June 13, 2016, touching down at 5:30 PM CDT and reaching 25 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 mphthis tornado

    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 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
EF0
Date
June 13, 2016
Touchdown
5:30 PM CDT (22:30 UTC)
Lifted
5:33 PM CDT (22:33 UTC)
On the ground
3 minutes
Path length
0.4 miles (0.7 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Saint Clair County
Touchdown point
38.465, -90.007
Lift-off point
38.469, -90.012
Record number
1606131630-01

The damage survey

2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LSX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 60 mph.

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.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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), 12:00Z

10.5 hours before the tornado, 223 km from the path. June 13, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2016-06-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -47321, lifted condensation level 1853 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 2016-06-13The 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 121 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 19 knots.1939Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-47321 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1853 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
121 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
122 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

1.5 hours after it, 223 km from the path. June 14, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2016-06-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 701 joules per kilogram, CIN -5, lifted condensation level 1764 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 2016-06-14The 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 -9 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 16 knots.1939Sfc1 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
701 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1685 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1764 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-9 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
32 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
8.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Belleville - Scott AFB (BLV), 16 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:58 UTC9371.78 2 kt1011.2
21:58 UTC93.7472.14200° 4 kt1010.5-DZ
22:04 UTC91.473.4220° 5 kt1010.8
22:19 UTC89.671.6220° 6 kt1010.5-DZ
22:28 UTC87.871.6220° 6 kt1010.5VCTS
22:58 UTC9169210° 3 kt1010.5
22:59 UTC89.673.4 3 kt1010.5-DZ
23:21 UTC87.871.670° 6 kt1010.5
23:24 UTC87.873.460° 4 kt1010.5TS
23:39 UTC8673.490° 6 kt1010.8VCTS
23:53 UTC84.273.4 4 kt1010.8-DZ VCTS
23:58 UTC83.4873.58 3 kt1010.8-RA VCTS
00:13 UTC80.67770° 3 kt1010.5VCTS

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

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:31 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
22:30 UTCTORNADO2 S BellevilleSt. Clair, ILSHORT LIVED LANDSPOUT TYPE TORNADO OBSERVED IN AN OPEN FIELD SOUTH OF BELLEVILLE OFF OF ROUTE 159. TIME AND LOCATION ESTIMATED BASED ON SEVERAL PICS INCLUDING A TWITTER PIC
00:10 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Nw BellevilleSt. Clair, ILSOCIAL MEDIA REPORT OF TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN IN THE AREA BETWEEN 74TH STREET AND FRANK SCOTT PARKWAY. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR
00:10 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Nw BellevilleSt. Clair, ILSOCIAL MEDIA REPORT OF TREES DOWN IN THE AREA BETWEEN 74TH STREET AND FRANK SCOTT PARKWAY. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR

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 June 13, 2016

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 131:41 PM MDTUnratedLas Animas, CO2.8200
June 134:22 PM MDTEF2Pennington, SD7.4200$100,000
June 135:24 PM MDTEF0Morgan, CO0.150
June 136:35 PM CDTEF0St. Mary Parish, LA0.05
June 138:06 PM CDTEF0Moore, TX0.350
June 138:25 PM CDTEF2Potter, TX5.0100

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.