Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2021
Unrated tornado, Dawson to Mechanicsburg, Illinois, May 3, 2021
From Dawson to Mechanicsburg, this Unrated tornado ran 0.6 miles across Sangamon County on May 3, 2021, touching down at 6:14 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 mph
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.
Unratedthis tornado
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
- Unrated
- Date
- May 3, 2021
- Touchdown
- 6:14 PM CDT (23:14 UTC)
- Lifted
- 6:15 PM CDT (23:15 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.6 miles (1.0 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Sangamon County
- Touchdown point
- 39.827, -89.428
- Lift-off point
- 39.825, -89.417
- Record number
- 2105031714-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A Mesoscale Convective Vortex (MCV) generated by a large cluster of convection across Kansas during the pre-dawn hours tracked eastward into central Illinois by the late afternoon and evening of May 3rd. Despite weak instability and deep-layer synoptic shear, the MCV was able to enhance the low-level shear and trigger a broken line of convection. One of the cells on the east-southeast flank of the MCV became a supercell and tracked across central Illinois from Cass County southeastward to Coles County before dissipating after dark. That particular storm produced five brief tornado touchdowns and hail as large as half dollars along its path. Another thunderstorm cell further south dropped 2-inch diameter hail in southern Christian County.
A weak tornado touched down in a field about 0.8 miles southeast of Dawson just north of I-72 at 6:10 PM CDT. The tornado tracked southeastward and quickly dissipated by 6:11 PM CDT. No damage occurred.
A weak tornado touched down in a field about 2 miles northwest of Mechanicsburg at 6:14 PM CDT. The tornado tracked southeastward and quickly dissipated by 6:15 PM CDT. No damage occurred.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Lincoln, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 3, 2:22 PM CDT, 3 hours 52 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 3, 2:22 PM CDT, 3 hours 52 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lincoln IL 222 PM CDT Mon May 3 2021 .SYNOPSIS... Issued at 222 PM CDT Mon May 3 2021 A frontal system tracking southeast across the state will bring the threat of strong to severe thunderstorms into this evening. Rain showers and a few thunderstorms will linger through Tuesday, especially for areas east of the IL River. Cooler than normal temperatures will continue into midweek. && .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Tuesday) ISSUED AT 222 PM CDT Mon May 3 2021 Forecast challenge in the short term remains convective trends through this evening. Latest satellite trend show increasing sunshine over west central IL, ahead of a shortwave/remnant MCV tracking east through northeast MO. This should allow for continued destabilization through early this evening, and with increasing wind fields aloft due to the approach of the shortwave, deep layer shear will grow to around 45 kt. Ascent associated with the MCV and weak surface wave should allow scattered convection late this afternoon and evening, with CAMs continuing to focus on areas north of a Jacksonville to Paris line for discrete cells and line segments. Damaging wind gusts will be the main threat, but the tornado threat is non- zero due to locally enhanced effective SRH downstream of the MCV. Expect a weakening trend as we head into mid evening with increasing stabilization when the storms track into far eastern and southeast IL. SPC has removed the enhanced risk for southern IL tonight, keeping the entire CWA in a slight risk. Will likely see a lull in precip late tonight as the surface front pushes into the Ohio Valley. However additional low pressure development along the front to our south should send another round of rain with embedded thunderstorms northeast, primarily affecting areas east of I-55 on Tuesday. && .LONG TERM...(Tuesday night through Monday) ISSUED AT 222 PM CDT Mon May 3 2021 Wednesday will see a break between systems, as a brief period of zonal flow aloft with high pressure at the surface shifts across the Midwest. While the airmass remains cool, a return of sunshine should boost highs into the low and mid 60s. A shortwave and weak surface reflection moving through on Thursday will bring scattered showers and cooler temperatures. Northwest flow behind this system will keep seasonably cool air around for Friday. The active pattern will see a warm front develop to our southwest Friday night and track northeast into the area on Saturday. This appears to be a more substantial system with a potential for heavy rain and strong storms, depending on how the details play out next weekend. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Tuesday afternoon) Issued at 1211 PM CDT Mon May 3 2021 Ceilings have recently risen to MVFR, and will likely see a window of VFR this afternoon. However a cold front pushing in from the northwest will bring scattered thunderstorms for the late afternoon and evening and have tempo groups for this to MVFR, though brief LIFR and gusty/damaging winds are possible if a stronger storm hits a terminal. Several hours of MVFR ceilings are likely behind the storms, before ceilings lower to IFR overnight. These may persist towards midday Tuesday with some guidance raising ceilings to MVFR by late morning. Winds outside of storms will generally be near 10 kt from the southwest this afternoon and veering west behind the front, then northwest later this evening. && .ILX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SYNOPSIS...25 SHORT TERM...25 LONG TERM...25 AVIATION...25
Hazardous weather outlook, May 3, 3:15 PM CDT, 2 hours 59 minutes before
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Lincoln IL 315 PM CDT Mon May 3 2021 ILZ027>031-036-037-040-041-041100- Fulton-Knox-Marshall-Mason-Peoria-Schuyler-Stark-Tazewell- Woodford- 315 PM CDT Mon May 3 2021 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of central Illinois and west central Illinois. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... Thunderstorms are likely through sunset as a weather system moves east across the area through sunset. These storms could be severe, with hail 1 to 2 inches in diameter and damaging winds of 60 to 70 mph. Isolated tornadoes are also possible. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY... Isolated thunderstorms are possible Thursday afternoon and again from Saturday afternoon through Sunday. The risk of severe storms is low during this time, though lightning hazards exist. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will be needed through 7 pm. ILZ038-042>057-061-041100- Cass-Champaign-Christian-Coles-De Witt-Douglas-Edgar-Logan-Macon- McLean-Menard-Morgan-Moultrie-Piatt-Sangamon-Scott-Shelby- Vermilion- 315 PM CDT Mon May 3 2021 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of central Illinois, east central Illinois and west central Illinois. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... Thunderstorms are likely across central Illinois as a weather system moves east across the area late this afternoon through mid evening. These storms could be severe, with hail 1 to 2 inch diameter and damaging winds of 60 to 70 mph. A brief tornado touchdown is also possible. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY... Isolated thunderstorms are possible on Tuesday, Thursday afternoon and again from Saturday afternoon through Sunday. The risk of severe storms is low during this time, though lightning hazards exist. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will be needed between 6 and 10 pm. ILZ062-063-066>068-071>073-041100- Clark-Clay-Crawford-Cumberland-Effingham-Jasper-Lawrence-Richland- 315 PM CDT Mon May 3 2021 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of east central Illinois and southeast Illinois. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... Thunderstorms are likely across southeast Illinois tonight as a weather system moves east across the area. These storms could be severe, with hail 1 to 2 inch diameter, damaging winds of 60 to 70 mph and isolated tornadoes. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY... Isolated thunderstorms are possible on Tuesday and Tuesday evening, and again Thursday afternoon. More isolated thunderstorms are possible Saturday afternoon through Sunday. Severe storm risk is low during this time, though lightning hazards exist. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation may be required between 8 pm and 1 am tonight. 07
In the hours before
Local storm report, May 3, 5:20 PM CDT, 54 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
520 PM CDT MON MAY 3 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0504 PM HAIL VIRGINIA 39.95N 90.21W
05/03/2021 E1.50 INCH CASS IL PUBLIC
RELAYED BY BROADCAST MEDIA. DAMAGE TO CARS.
&&
SBLocal storm report, May 3, 5:21 PM CDT, 53 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
521 PM CDT MON MAY 3 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0515 PM HAIL 4 WSW NEWMANSVILLE 39.98N 90.08W
05/03/2021 E1.00 INCH CASS IL FIRE DEPT/RESCUE
RELAYED BY ASHLAND FIRE.
&&
SBLocal storm report, May 3, 5:30 PM CDT, 44 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
530 PM CDT MON MAY 3 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0527 PM TORNADO 2 WNW PLEASANT PLAINS 39.93N 90.00W
05/03/2021 CASS IL STORM CHASER
&&
SBLocal storm report, May 3, 5:40 PM CDT, 34 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
540 PM CDT MON MAY 3 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0505 PM TORNADO 3 S VIRGINIA 39.91N 90.21W
05/03/2021 CASS IL TRAINED SPOTTER
ON GROUND IN OPEN FIELD. DIME SIZED HAIL.
&&
SBSpecial weather statement, May 3, 6:02 PM CDT, 12 minutes before
Special Weather Statement National Weather Service Lincoln IL 602 PM CDT Mon May 3 2021 ILZ042-032345- Logan- 602 PM CDT Mon May 3 2021 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR CENTRAL LOGAN COUNTY UNTIL 645 PM CDT... At 602 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near Middletown, or 7 miles southwest of Lincoln, moving east at 30 mph. Half inch hail and wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph will be possible with this storm. Locations impacted include... Lincoln, Mount Pulaski, Elkhart, Chestnut, New Holland, Lawndale and Broadwell. This includes the following highways... Interstate 155 between mile markers 0 and 2. Interstate 55 between mile markers 114 and 136. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 900 PM CDT for central Illinois. LAT...LON 4000 8954 4018 8959 4024 8922 4002 8917 TIME...MOT...LOC 2302Z 269DEG 26KT 4010 8949 37
Local storm report, May 3, 6:09 PM CDT, 5 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>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.
Lincoln, IL (KILX), 12:00Z
11.2 hours before the tornado, 79 km from the path. May 3, 2021.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -87523 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 460 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 11 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 8 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 44 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 56 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.5 K/km
Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z
0.8 hours after it, 79 km from the path. May 4, 2021.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 758 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -32 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1044 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 843 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 48 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 17 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -13 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 74 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.3
- Supercell composite
- 1.4
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.0 K/km
The surface observations
Springfield (SPI), 22 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Lincoln radar (KILX), 37 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:13 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.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of May 3, 2021
30 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 3 | 8:08 AM CDT | EF1 | Monroe, KY | 0.5 | 60 | |||
| May 3 | 10:00 AM EDT | EF1 | Douglas, GA | 1.4 | 250 | $250,000 | ||
| May 3 | 10:22 AM EDT | EF1 | Fulton, GA | 5.7 | 400 | $250,000 | ||
| May 3 | 12:39 PM EDT | EF0 | Walton, GA | 1.4 | 200 | $100,000 | ||
| May 3 | 12:39 PM EDT | EF1 | York, SC | 0.5 | 150 | $350,000 | ||
| May 3 | 11:42 AM CDT | EF0 | Coffee, TN | 0.8 | 50 | $15,000 | ||
| May 3 | 12:54 PM EDT | EF1 | Madison, GA | 5.5 | 250 | |||
| May 3 | 1:29 PM EDT | EF0 | Oglethorpe, GA | 1.9 | 200 | $100,000 | ||
| May 3 | 1:41 PM EDT | EF1 | Elbert, GA | 0.1 | 25 | $50,000 | ||
| May 3 | 2:04 PM EDT | EF2 | Abbeville, SC | 29.4 | 150 | 1 | $115,000 | |
| May 3 | 2:23 PM EDT | EF0 | Stanly, NC | 1.5 | 150 | $50,000 | ||
| May 3 | 3:01 PM EDT | EF2 | Northumberland, VA | 4.4 | 250 | $500,000 | ||
| May 3 | 4:57 PM CDT | Unrated | Cass, IL | 0.5 | 50 | |||
| May 3 | 5:05 PM CDT | Unrated | Cass, IL | 1.5 | 100 | |||
| May 3 | 6:27 PM EDT | EF1 | Jefferson, WV | 1.8 | 125 | 1 | $100,000 | |
| May 3 | 5:27 PM CDT | Unrated | Sangamon, IL | 0.3 | 50 | |||
| May 3 | 6:02 PM CDT | EF0 | Hood, TX | 0.4 | 50 | $500 | ||
| May 3 | 6:10 PM CDT | Unrated | Sangamon, IL | 0.4 | 50 | |||
| May 3 | 7:10 PM CDT | Unrated | Hill, TX | 0.0 | 25 | |||
| May 3 | 8:14 PM EDT | EF0 | Frederick, MD | 0.8 | 200 | $150,000 | ||
| May 3 | 7:18 PM CDT | EF2 | Hill, TX | 3.4 | 150 | $350,000 | ||
| May 3 | 8:35 PM EDT | EF0 | Frederick, MD | 0.6 | 150 | $100,000 | ||
| May 3 | 7:41 PM CDT | EF0 | Collin, TX | 0.5 | 50 | $500 | ||
| May 3 | 8:47 PM EDT | EF0 | Carroll, MD | 0.2 | 75 | $50,000 | ||
| May 3 | 8:00 PM CDT | EF0 | Johnson, TX | 0.2 | 50 | $500 | ||
| May 3 | 9:37 PM EDT | EF0 | Lawrence, PA | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| May 3 | 8:43 PM CDT | EF2 | Ellis, TX | 5.4 | 659 | 8 | $1.5 million | |
| May 3 | 9:33 PM CDT | EF1 | Sequoyah, OK to AR | 28.8 | 2,200 | 1 | $16 million | |
| May 3 | 9:36 PM CDT | EF1 | Sequoyah, OK to AR | 10.3 | 900 | $110,000 | ||
| May 3 | 10:06 PM CDT | EF1 | Crawford, AR | 2.7 | 300 | $20,000 |
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.