Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2016
EF1 tornado, Malden, Illinois, June 22, 2016
This EF1 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Bureau County on June 22, 2016, touching down at 8:35 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
- June 22, 2016
- Touchdown
- 8:35 PM CDT (01:35 UTC)
- Lifted
- 8:38 PM CDT (01:38 UTC)
- On the ground
- 3 minutes
- Path length
- 0.5 miles (0.8 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Bureau County
- Touchdown point
- 41.414, -89.368
- Lift-off point
- 41.413, -89.358
- Record number
- 1606221935-01
The damage survey
13 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DVN and NWS ILX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 107 mph.
- multiple tree branches broken off along Ottawa St
- 12 large pine trees snapped. Other tree damaged as well. All damage from RFD winds
- Multiple trees damaged. All damage from RFD winds.
- multiple trees broken off with large broken branches in cemetery.
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
What the Weather Service recorded
The afternoon of June 22, saw strong to severe thunderstorms form over eastern Iowa, and move into northern Illinois. The storms became supercell thunderstorms as they moved into Illinois, and produced tornadoes over portions of northern Illinois, along with wind damage and hail.
A tornado touched down in a field about 2 miles south of Malden, and moved east around one half mile before lifting. Crop damage occurred along the path length as well as damage to shingles on a residence, and several mature hardwood trees snapped off about 20 feet above the ground.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
16 minutes of warning. NWS DVN issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:19 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:15 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:11 UTC and running to 03:26 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23:11 UTC | 03:26 UTC | Tornado Watch | DVN |
| 00:33 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | DVN |
| 00:38 UTC | 01:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | DVN |
| 01:19 UTC | 02:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | DVN |
| 10:11 UTC | 14:00 UTC | Dense Fog Advisory | DVN |
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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:01 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
1.6 hours before the tornado, 97 km from the path. June 23, 2016.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2855 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -39 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3447 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 998 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 46 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 26 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 316 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 422 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 6.5
- Supercell composite
- 30.6
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.4 K/km
Davenport, (KDVN), 12:00Z
10.4 hours after it, 97 km from the path. June 23, 2016.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 534 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -188 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1128 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 597 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 54 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 13 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -29 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 65 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- -0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.6
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.5 K/km
The surface observations
Peru (VYS), 19 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:35 UTC | 84.2 | 76.28 | 180° 10 kt | 1007.8 | ||
| 23:55 UTC | 83.3 | 76.28 | 160° 9 kt | 1006.4 | ||
| 00:15 UTC | 82.76 | 76.64 | 160° 10 kt | 1006.1 | ||
| 00:35 UTC | 83 | 76.28 | 170° 15 kt | 1005.8 | VCTS | |
| 00:55 UTC | 82.76 | 75.56 | 200° 26 kt | 29 | 1004.4 | VCTS |
| 01:15 UTC | 82.76 | 75.38 | 200° 26 kt | 29 | 1003.7 | TSRA |
| 01:35 UTC | 80.78 | 76 | 270° 14 kt | 21 | 1007.1 | +TSRA |
| 01:55 UTC | 78.26 | 75 | 20° 10 kt | 38 | 1006.8 | -TSRA |
| 02:15 UTC | 74.66 | 73.76 | 0° 0 kt | 1007.8 | TSRA | |
| 02:35 UTC | 73.4 | 72 | 30° 8 kt | 1007.8 | -VCTSRA | |
| 02:55 UTC | 73.58 | 73 | 80° 6 kt | 1007.8 | VCTS | |
| 03:15 UTC | 73.4 | 72.86 | 90° 4 kt | 1007.8 | -RA |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 104 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:36 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:12 UTC | TORNADO | 5 Ese Amboy | Lee, IL | BRIEF TOUCHDOWN. |
| 00:33 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 1 Ese Ohio | Bureau, IL | |
| 00:38 UTC | TORNADO | Compton | Lee, IL | TORNADO NEAR SHAW ROAD WITH TREE DAMAGE. |
| 00:40 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 5 W La Moille | Bureau, IL | TORNADO BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN AND THEN LIFTED. IT LASTED FROM 740 PM TO 742 PM. |
| 00:53 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Hooppole | Henry, IL | 2 FUNNELS EAST OF HOOPLE APPEAR HEADED TOWARD THOMAS |
| 00:55 UTC | TORNADO | La Moille | Bureau, IL | TORNADO BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN AND THEN LIFTED |
| 00:58 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Ne Earlville | La Salle, IL | TORNADO 1.5 MILES NORTHEAST OF EARLVILLE ON E1401 ROAD. |
| 01:04 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 6 Sw Walnut | Bureau, IL | BRIEF TORNADO - FUNNEL HAS LIFTED. ADDITIONAL DELAYED INFORMATION, TORNADO WAS ON THE GROUND FOR ONE MINUTE - 804 PM TO 805 PM. |
| 01:07 UTC | TORNADO | 3 N Manlius | Bureau, IL | BRIEF TORNADO - FUNNEL HAS LIFTED |
| 01:11 UTC | TORNADO | 1 S Leland | La Salle, IL | TORNADO SOUTH OF LELAND. |
| 01:12 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Sw Troy Grove | La Salle, IL | TORNADO LIFTED EAST OF CHERRY. |
| 01:16 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 0 | Ene Hooppole | Henry, IL | VERY HEAVY RAIN OVER THE PAST 20 MINUTES. PONDING OF WATER ON STREETS AND ON HIGHWAY 78. |
| 01:23 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Nw Princeton | Bureau, IL | CORRECTED FOR COUNTY - SPOTTER IS UNABLE TO SEE WHETHER THE FUNNEL IS TOUCHING THE GROUND |
| 01:29 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Princeton | Bureau, IL | FUNNEL OBSERVED NEAR TRUCK STOP |
| 01:29 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Ottawa | La Salle, IL | NEAR IL 23 AND IL 52. |
| 01:29 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Nw Sheridan | La Salle, IL | |
| 01:32 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Ne Princeton | Bureau, IL | SEMI ON ITS SIDE BETWEEN PRINCETON AND DOVER |
| 01:33 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Sse Malden | Bureau, IL | DELAYED REPORT. TORNADO DID DAMAGE TO A RESIDENCE WITH TREE DAMAGE ALSO FOUND. TORNADO WAS ON THE GROUND FROM 833 PM TO 837 PM. CATEGORY WAS EF0. |
| 01:33 UTC | TORNADO | 5 Nw Ottawa | La Salle, IL | |
| 01:34 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 4 Ne Princeton | Bureau, IL | CORRECTED FOR COUNTY |
| 01:36 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 S Malden | Bureau, IL | SEVERAL MATURE TREES SNAPPED OFF 20 FEET OFF THE GROUND AT RESIDENCE. SHINGLES PEALED OFF IN SPOTS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ROOF. NEARBY CORN IS FLATTENED. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 01:36 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Malden | Bureau, IL | SEVERAL LARGE TREES DOWN IN TOWN AND MINOR ROOF DAMAGE TO 1 RESIDENCE...TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 01:48 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Nne Ottawa | La Salle, IL | |
| 01:57 UTC | TORNADO | Marseilles | La Salle, IL | TWO STRUCTURES REPORTED WITH NO ROOFS ON N 2950TH ROAD. POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE. |
| 01:59 UTC | TORNADO | Marseilles | La Salle, IL | SOUTH OF I-80. |
| 02:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Granville | Putnam, IL | SEVERAL POWER LINES AND TREES DOWN IN TOWN. 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 22, 2016
19 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 22 | 7:19 PM CDT | EF1 | Lee, IL | 4.1 | 300 | |||
| June 22 | 7:31 PM CDT | EF0 | Lee, IL | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 22 | 7:40 PM CDT | EF0 | Bureau, IL | 0.6 | 25 | |||
| June 22 | 7:59 PM CDT | EF0 | LaSalle, IL | 0.3 | 75 | |||
| June 22 | 7:59 PM CDT | EF1 | LaSalle, IL | 4.3 | 400 | |||
| June 22 | 8:02 PM CDT | EF1 | LaSalle, IL | 1.4 | 250 | |||
| June 22 | 8:04 PM CDT | EF0 | Bureau, IL | 0.3 | 10 | |||
| June 22 | 8:11 PM CDT | EF1 | LaSalle, IL | 0.5 | 50 | |||
| June 22 | 8:22 PM CDT | EF1 | LaSalle, IL | 1.7 | 250 | |||
| June 22 | 8:32 PM CDT | EF1 | LaSalle, IL | 0.5 | 50 | |||
| June 22 | 8:48 PM CDT | EF1 | LaSalle, IL | 4.5 | 100 | |||
| June 22 | 8:53 PM CDT | EF2 | LaSalle, IL | 8.1 | 300 | |||
| June 22 | 9:29 PM CDT | EF0 | Grundy, IL | 0.7 | 100 | |||
| June 22 | 10:06 PM CDT | EF2 | Livingston, IL | 11.1 | 440 | 4 | ||
| June 22 | 10:12 PM CDT | EF1 | Iroquois, IL | 1.7 | 50 | |||
| June 22 | 10:49 PM CDT | EF0 | Livingston, IL | 0.1 | 10 | |||
| June 22 | 11:37 PM CDT | EF1 | Iroquois, IL | 3.1 | 440 | |||
| June 22 | 12:51 AM EDT | EF1 | Huntington, IN | 2.4 | 200 | |||
| June 22 | 12:57 AM EDT | EF2 | Huntington, IN | 2.4 | 300 |
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.