EF3 tornado, Carmi Muni Arpt to Oakland City, Illinois, February 28, 2017

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

February 28, 2017

Touchdown

9:55 PM CST (03:55 UTC)

Lifted

10:47 PM CST (04:47 UTC)

On the ground

52 minutes

Path length

44.1 miles (71.0 km)

Path width

440 yards (402 m)

Deaths

1

Injuries

2

Property damage

$5.7 million

Counties

White, Posey and Gibson counties

Touchdown point

38.137, -88.115

Lift-off point

38.318, -87.335

Record number

1702282155-02

45 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS PAH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 152 mph.

• old part of house destroyed which was rebuilt after the 1925 tornado. newer part house damaged. vehicle moved some 30 yards.
• Large sections of roofing lost.
• House moved about 3 ft off foundation. Most of second floor gone. 4 Wheeler upside down, refrigerator lofted onto pile. House did not appear to bolted to foundation. garage completely destroyed with bolts showing from foundation.
• Small brick outbuilding severely damaged.

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

Isolated supercell thunderstorms moved into southern Illinois during the evening hours. The storms developed ahead of a cold front in a destabilizing air mass characterized by dew points in the lower to mid 60's. The most intense supercell storm awaited the approach of a mid-level impulse from Oklahoma, which was downstream from the primary shortwave trough over the southern Plains. The supercell produced two long-track strong tornadoes, the first of which originated in Perry County, Missouri and tracked almost 50 miles before dissipating. The second strong tornado formed in the Wabash Valley and crossed into southwest Indiana. A southwesterly low-level jet increased substantially during the evening, creating favorable conditions for tornadoes.

An isolated but very powerful supercell thunderstorm moved across southwest Indiana during the late evening hours. The storm originated over Missouri in a destabilizing pre-frontal air mass characterized by dew points in the lower to mid 60's. This intense supercell storm awaited the approach of a mid-level impulse from Oklahoma, which was downstream from the primary shortwave trough over the Plains. A southwesterly low-level jet increased substantially during the evening. A long-track, strong tornado was spawned in southeast Illinois, and it continued east-northeast for about 45 miles before lifting in eastern Gibson County, Indiana.

The tornado touched down between Crossville and Carmi, quickly strengthening to EF-3 intensity before crossing Illinois Route 1. The tornado track stayed northeast of Carmi, in relatively sparsely populated farmland. In White County, 35 structures were damaged or destroyed. At least several of those were homes. Just west of Highway 1, several vehicles were rolled over and moved, and a single-wide mobile home was destroyed. Near where the tornado crossed Route 1, an older house was moved three feet off its foundation. The house did not appear to be bolted to the foundation. Most of the second floor was removed. A double-wide mobile home was destroyed in the same area near Route 1. The width of the damage path was about 300 yards along Route 1. Just south of Crossville on County Road 1675E, a vehicle was rolled about 30 yards, and a house was destroyed. Some walls of the house collapsed, and most of the roof came off. Peak winds at this location were estimated near 150 mph. The sole fatality occurred south of Crossville, where an elderly man was caught outdoors when the tornado struck. The man was found in a farm field about 40 yards from his house. His wife was inside in the house, and she received scrapes and bruises. Another EF-3 damage location was east of Crossville, where a vehicle was moved about 30 yards and an old house was partially destroyed. The average path width was about 300 yards in White County. The tornado continued across the Wabash River into Posey County, Indiana.

This long-track tornado continued from White County, Illinois across the Wabash River into Posey County. The tornado was rated EF-2 throughout its path in Posey County. The tornado was about 220 yards wide when it crossed the Wabash River to Indiana Highway 69. Several small barns were destroyed, and most trees were snapped along the path. Power poles were snapped, and roads were blocked by debris. The Posey County portion of the path was almost entirely through agricultural land, resulting in damage to very few residences. The tornado crossed Interstate 64 west of Poseyville, leaving a path of flattened trees across the interstate. Just before the tornado crossed into Gibson County, an old house was shifted off its foundation. The tornado again strengthened to EF-3 intensity after crossing into Gibson County.

This long-track tornado crossed from Posey County into Gibson County just northwest of Poseyville. The tornado crossed U.S. Highway 41 just north of Fort Branch and just south of the Toyota manufacturing plant. The path later crossed Interstate 69 before ending just south of Oakland City. The tornado was rated EF-3 at a couple of points south and southwest of Owensville, where a couple of houses lost their roofs and most of their exterior walls. This was where the highest winds along the 44-mile path occurred, likely around 150 mph. One person was seriously injured, requiring hospitalization. Cars were tossed 15 yards, and two double-wide mobile homes were destroyed, with their frames blown 50 to 75 yards. Further east, from the Fort Branch area to south of Oakland City, roofs were blown off a few homes and barns were destroyed. Grain bins were destroyed, and trees were snapped. The total number of damaged or destroyed structures in Gibson County was about 106, including some homes.

The deaths

1 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

31 minutes of warning. NWS PAH issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:24 UTC, 31 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 02:31 UTC and running to 14:00 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 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:57 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 Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 4 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:55 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 2017 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

29 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.