Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2019

EF1 tornado, Ogle, Illinois, June 15, 2019

This EF1 tornado ran 0.7 miles across Mercer County on June 15, 2019, touching down at 8:38 PM CDT and reaching 40 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
June 15, 2019
Touchdown
8:38 PM CDT (01:38 UTC)
Lifted
8:39 PM CDT (01:39 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.7 miles (1.1 km)
Path width
40 yards (37 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Mercer County
Touchdown point
41.113, -90.904
Lift-off point
41.115, -90.891
Record number
1906151938-01

The damage survey

23 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DVN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 121 mph.

  • House shifted off foundation

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

Severe thunderstorms tracked across portions of eastern Iowa, northeast Missouri, and northwest Illinois Saturday evening, June 15, bringing damaging winds, heavy downpours, frequent lightning, large hail, and a tornado. Many areas saw winds between 30-50 mph during the evening hours, with higher winds of 60-70 mph reported in Iowa and Benton counties in Iowa. ||The storms produced three tornadoes in Des Moines County (west of Mediapolis, IA and south of Oakville, IA) between 7:50 pm and 8:30 pm.||Two tornadoes south of Oakville were rated EF2 and downed numerous trees, severely damaged a house displacing it off its foundation, destroyed outbuildings, and downed power poles.||The tornado west of Mediapolis remained in an open field and was rated EF0.||Another tornado occurred just northeast of Keithsburg in Mercer County Illinois. This tornado was rated EF1 and trees.

A brief tornado damaged trees at and just east of a farmstead. Some trunks were snapped off near the base. Maximum wind speeds were estimated around 100 mph. The tornado was on the ground for about 1 minute. The time was estimated by radar, and the damage was observed and documented by emergency management.

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

The warnings

14 minutes of warning. NWS DVN issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:24 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:41 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 18:23 UTC and running to 02:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:23 UTC02:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchDVN
01:07 UTC02:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDVN
01:24 UTC01:41 UTCTornado WarningDVN

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 01:46 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, 65 km from the path. June 16, 2019.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Davenport, at 00:00Z on 2019-06-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 274 joules per kilogram, CIN -109, lifted condensation level 1022 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Davenport, at 00:00Z on 2019-06-16The 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 74 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 27 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
274 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-109 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1172 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1022 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
74 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
70 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.1
0-3 km lapse rate
6.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Davenport, (KDVN), 12:00Z

10.4 hours after it, 65 km from the path. June 16, 2019.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2019-06-16Temperature 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 -7, lifted condensation level 546 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2019-06-16The 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 37 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 27 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
546 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
74 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Muscatine (MUT), 35 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
23:55 UTC7769.8150° 7 kt1004.7
00:15 UTC7769.8140° 5 kt1005.4
00:35 UTC7769.8140° 5 kt1005.4
00:55 UTC71.668290° 24 kt321006.8RA
01:15 UTC66.264.4330° 13 kt261007.1+RA
01:35 UTC66.264.4300° 14 kt221006.4+RA
01:55 UTC66.264.4290° 7 kt131006.1RA
02:15 UTC66.264.4280° 4 kt1005.8-RA
02:35 UTC66.264.40° 0 kt1004.4-RA
02:55 UTC66.264.4260° 5 kt1005.4
03:15 UTC66.264.4240° 5 kt1006.8
03:35 UTC66.264.40° 0 kt1006.1

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

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 61 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
01:38 UTCTORNADO1 Nw OgleMercer, ILA BRIEF TORNADO DAMAGED TREES AT AND JUST EAST OF A FARMSTEAD. SOME TRUNKS WERE SNAPPED NEAR THE BASE. MAXIMUM WIND SPEEDS WERE ESTIMATED AROUND 100 MPH. THE TORNADO WAS ON THE GROUND FOR ABOUT 1 MINUTE. TIME WAS ESTIMAT

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2019 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 15, 2019

28 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 152:21 PM CDTEF0Hardin, IA0.220$1,000
June 152:43 PM CDTEF0Macoupin, IL1.830
June 152:53 PM CDTEF0Stutsman, ND0.430
June 154:22 PM CDTEF0Holt, MO0.715
June 154:29 PM CDTEF0Wells, ND0.530
June 155:20 PM CDTUnratedCastro, TX0.010
June 156:29 PM EDTEF1Owen, IN8.1200$100,000
June 156:48 PM EDTEF2Monroe, IN3.7400$110,000
June 156:56 PM EDTEF2Greene, IN3.5400$250,000
June 156:05 PM CDTEF0Deuel, SD0.110
June 157:26 PM EDTEF1Marion, IN1.9200$1.1 million
June 157:37 PM EDTEF0Marion, IN0.9100$30,000
June 157:46 PM EDTEF0Brown, IN0.650$1,000
June 158:48 PM EDTEF2Rush, IN14.5200$275,000
June 157:54 PM CDTUnratedDes Moines, IA0.840
June 159:02 PM EDTEF0Fayette, IN0.120$50,000
June 158:20 PM CDTEF2Des Moines, IA1.8260
June 158:24 PM CDTEF2Des Moines, IA1.3300
June 158:40 PM CDTEF1Dewey, OK3.1100$4,000
June 159:42 PM EDTEF1Union, IN2.135$35,000
June 159:51 PM EDTEF0Wayne, IN1.61002$225,000
June 159:56 PM EDTEF0Preble, OH1.735$40,000
June 159:06 PM CDTEF2Custer, OK6.3500$80,000
June 159:16 PM CDTEF0Custer, OK1.3300$2,000
June 159:42 PM CDTEF1Custer, OK1.5400$50,000
June 1510:19 PM CDTEF1Tazewell, IL2.4200$60,000
June 1511:36 PM CDTEF1McLean, IL1.950$40,000
June 1511:51 PM CDTEF1Lincoln, OK5.250$60,000

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.