EF2 tornado, Sorento to Cowden, Illinois, December 10, 2021

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

December 10, 2021

Touchdown

8:53 PM CST (02:53 UTC)

Lifted

9:36 PM CST (03:36 UTC)

On the ground

43 minutes

Path length

41.5 miles (66.8 km)

Path width

690 yards (631 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$10,000

Counties

Bond, Montgomery, Fayette and Shelby counties

Touchdown point

38.985, -89.570

Lift-off point

39.270, -88.898

Record number

2112102053-01

67 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ILX and NWS LSX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 118 mph.

• Virtually every tree was snapped
• Pictures depict new poles being added
• ground swirls in high resolution satellite data
• ground markings in high resolution satellite data

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

Numerous severe thunderstorms formed ahead of an approaching cold front during the late afternoon and evening of Friday December 10th, 2021. Large hail, damaging winds and five tornadoes occurred across central and eastern Missouri as well as south central Illinois. Unfortunately two of the tornadoes were very strong (rated EF-3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale) and responsible for 7 fatalities (one near Defiance, Missouri and six at an Amazon Facility near Edwardsville, Illinois). The Defiance, MO tornado tracked within one mile of the NWS St. Louis office in the Missouri Research Park near Weldon Spring, MO leading to the staff sheltering while NWS Kansas City provided service backup. This is only the third time in the office's existence that the staff had to shelter. The damage from the Defiance, MO EF3 tornado was estimated at $684,186 and is unknown for the remaining tracks at this time but early estimates are well into the millions due to the damage sustained at the Amazon facility near Edwardsville, IL.

A deepening area of low pressure tracked from near Kansas City during the afternoon of December 10th to southern Lake Michigan by the pre-dawn hours of December 11th. An unseasonably warm and moist airmass surged northward ahead of the system, resulting in high temperatures reaching the lower to middle 60s across central Illinois. As the low and an associated vigorous short-wave trough interacted with the moderately unstable and highly sheared environment, several clusters of strong to severe thunderstorms developed during the late afternoon and evening of the 10th. Numerous rotating cells were observed, with a total of 6 tornadoes touching down across central Illinois. 5 of the tornadoes were rated EF-2, including one that injured a person just north of Herrick in Shelby County.

The tornado first touched down south of Sorento on New Douglas Road (Bond County), west of Sorento Reservoir, where it snapped several trees. The tornado moved northeast, passing 3.2 miles east of Donnellson crossing Mt. Moriah Avenue, moving into southern Montgomery County. The tornado was rated EF1 in Bond County with a path length of 8.94 miles and a max path width of 150 yards. No injuries or deaths were reported in Bond County.

As it moved northeast into Montgomery County 3.2 miles east of Donnellson, it moved over the southern portion of Coffeen Lake. The damage in this area consisted of downed and snapped trees rated EF-1. As the tornado continued northeast, it crossed IL Route 185 where it destroyed an outbuilding, snapped trees, and downed power lines. Near the intersection of School House Avenue and Dads Trail, extensive tree damage was observed. Further northeast, the tornado crossed Fillmore Lake, moving into Fayette County. The tornado was rated EF1 in Montgomery County with a path length of 10.11 miles and a max path width of 300 yards. No injuries or deaths were reported in Montgomery County.

As it tracked to the northeast across Fayette County, it moved through Bingham, snapping additional trees. The tornado intensified and widened as it moved across the southeast portion of Ramsey State Park and across US Highway 51 north of Ramsey. The tornado continued to track northeast, crossing IL Route 14 around 2 miles west of Herrick, continuing into Shelby County (WFO Lincoln IL County Warning Area). The tornado was rated EF1 in Fayette County with a path length of 14.8 miles and a max path width of 690 yards. No injuries or deaths were reported in Fayette County.

This tornado crossed from Fayette County in the National Weather Service St. Louis County Warning Area (CWA) into southern Shelby County in the National Weather Service Lincoln County Warning Area (CWA) at 9:26 PM CST. It downed several large wood power poles about 2 miles west of Herrick. The most significant damage occurred to a residence 1 mile north of Herrick where an addition to a house saw significant damage, causing injury to one person. The tornado continued northeastward, damaging several outbuildings and downing trees and power lines. The tornado lifted 2 miles northwest of Cowden at about 9:36 PM CST.

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

20 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:33 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:20 UTC and running to 05:00 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 Enhanced 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 00:47 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 Lincoln radar (KILX), 114 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:50 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 2021 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

32 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.