EF1 tornado, Clifton to Ashkum, Illinois, June 22, 2016

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.

Rating

EF1

Date

June 22, 2016

Touchdown

10:12 PM CDT (03:12 UTC)

Lifted

10:15 PM CDT (03:15 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.7 miles (2.7 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Iroquois County

Touchdown point

40.922, -87.989

Lift-off point

40.909, -87.962

Record number

1606222112-01

4 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LOT, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 99 mph.

• large tree snapped but trunk showed signs of rot, other small limbs and one wooden power pole snapped but no significant damage
• Large trailer filled with tools picked up and turned. Metal outbuildings destroyed. Empty grain bin tossed across driveway into field. Debris deposited in field to southeast for .5 miles. Corn laid down upstream northwest of location.
• Photo looking up stream to the north west. Grain bins were tossed toward the south east toward the location where the photo is being taken. It knocked out some power lines as it was being tossed.
• Several trees taken out on the property but most trees undamaged and house also undamaged.

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

The evening of Wednesday, June 22 brought a favorable setup for tornadoes across northern Illinois. There were approximately 3 supercells which brought numerous tornadoes to the NWS Chicago CWA. NWS ground survey data combined with aerial photography, radar and satellite imagery, and detailed reports from trained storm spotters have helped to determine that 15 tornadoes occurred across the NWS Chicago County Warning Area.

The tornado started approximately 2.75 miles to the north-northeast of the intersection of Route 116 and 700 East Rd. As the tornado moved to the southeast, a farm building located off 2800 North Rd had a large trailer filled with tools picked up and turned. There were also metal outbuildings destroyed, as well as an empty grain bin tossed across the driveway into a field. The debris deposited in a field to southeast for a half mile. Corn was laid down upstream northwest of location. At a residence located along N 900 E Rd, several trees were taken out on the property but most trees were undamaged and house also was undamaged. Peak winds were estimated at 100 mph, and max width was 50 yards. (Tornado 12 of 15).

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:11 UTC and running to 06:00 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 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 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 Chicago radar (KLOT), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:11 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 2016 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

19 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.