Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2022

EF1 tornado, Beason, Illinois, August 1, 2022

This EF1 tornado ran 1.9 miles across Logan County on August 1, 2022, touching down at 5:12 AM CDT and reaching 60 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
August 1, 2022
Touchdown
5:12 AM CDT (10:12 UTC)
Lifted
5:15 AM CDT (10:15 UTC)
On the ground
3 minutes
Path length
1.9 miles (3.0 km)
Path width
60 yards (55 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Logan County
Touchdown point
40.144, -89.197
Lift-off point
40.125, -89.172
Record number
2208010412-01

The damage survey

3 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ILX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 105 mph.

  • Grain bin dented and roof removed

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

A cold front extending from Wisconsin into eastern Iowa triggered a line of strong to severe thunderstorms during the pre-dawn hours of August 1st. The storms tracked southeastward, producing scattered wind damage along and north of the I-72 corridor. One of the cells spawned a brief EF-1 tornado in the town of Beason in eastern Logan County which severely damaged a grain elevator and numerous trees before quickly lifting. Another storm produced a brief EF-0 tornado near Mason City in Mason County that caused minor damage.

A tornado touched down on the far west side of Beason at 5:12 AM CDT. It damaged a grain elevator, some large bins, and equipment on the west end of Clinton Street...then tracked southeastward, damaging numerous trees and powerlines on the west end of County Road 1549 North and near the intersection of County Road 2143 East and County Road 1540 North. A few homes along the track had minor roof damage and missing shingles, while one suffered a broken window. The tornado continued southeastward through corn fields before lifting about 1.75 miles southeast of Beason at 5:15 AM CDT.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
09:31 UTC10:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningILX
10:11 UTC10:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningILX

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:38 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.

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

10.2 hours before the tornado, 50 km from the path. August 1, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2022-08-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 173 joules per kilogram, CIN -183, lifted condensation level 1019 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2022-08-01The 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 76 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 32 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
173 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-183 J/kg
Surface CAPE
622 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1019 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
76 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
154 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 12:00Z

1.8 hours after it, 50 km from the path. August 1, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2022-08-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 341 joules per kilogram, CIN -299, lifted condensation level 1174 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2022-08-01The 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 244 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 61 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
341 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-299 J/kg
Surface CAPE
14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1174 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
61 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
244 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
227 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 13 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:12 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
09:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Sse TremontTazewell, ILSEVERAL TREE LIMBS BROKEN. TIME ESTIMATE VIA RADAR. REPORT RELAYED BY BROADCAST MEDIA.
09:55 UTCTSTM WND DMGHopedaleTazewell, ILCORRECTS PREVIOUS TSTM WND DMG REPORT FROM HOPEDALE. DELAYED REPORT. DAMAGE TO TREE LIMBS AND POWER LINES. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
09:58 UTCTSTM WND GST 624 Se TremontTazewell, ILPOWER WENT OUT AT THAT TIME.
10:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Ese DillonTazewell, IL
10:05 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Wnw LincolnLogan, ILLARGE TREES SNAPPED AT BASE. LARGEST TREE WAS 24 INCHES IN DIAMETER. A LARGE OUT BUILDING WAS ALSO DAMAGED. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR.
10:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGBeasonLogan, ILGRAIN BIN DAMAGED. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR.
10:12 UTCTORNADO 1BeasonLogan, ILDELAYED ENTRY - A BRIEF EF-1 TORNADO WITH ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEEDS UP TO 105 MPH IMPACTED THE WESTERN AND SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF BEASON IN EAST CENTRAL LOGAN COUNTY. THE TORNADO DEVELOPED AROUND 5:12 AM ON THE FAR WES
10:12 UTCTORNADOBeasonLogan, ILEF1 TORNADO ESTIMATED WITH 105 MPH WINDS DAMAGED LARGE GRAIN BINS ON FAR WEST END OF BEASON AND TOOK DOWN SOME LARGE TREES AND BRANCHES NEAR A FEW HOMES WITH SOME ROOF DAMAGE AND A WINDOW DAMAGED. TORNADO THEN TRAVELED N
10:32 UTCTSTM WND DMGArgentaMacon, ILTHREE TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN AND A GAZEBO WAS TOSSED ONTO THE ROOF OF A HOUSE, CAUSING DAMAGE TO THE ROOF.
10:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ene DecaturMacon, ILSOCIAL MEDIA PHOTO RELAYED BY BROADCAST MEDIA SHOWS LARGE TREE BLOWN ONTO HOUSE, CAUSING STRUCTURAL DAMAGE. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR.
10:40 UTCTSTM WND DMGDecaturMacon, ILTREE BRANCHES DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR.
10:45 UTCTSTM WND DMGCerro GordoPiatt, ILSOCIAL MEDIA PHOTO SHOWS TREE BRANCHES DOWN, ONE OF WHICH FELL ONTO A CHAIN LINK FENCE AND DAMAGED THE FENCE. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
10:46 UTCTSTM WND GST 66Decatur AirportMacon, IL
10:50 UTCTSTM WND DMGBementPiatt, ILTREES DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR.
13:00 UTCHEAVY RAIN 0.992 Sw BloomingtonMclean, IL
13:10 UTCHEAVY RAIN 1.022 Sse PekinTazewell, IL

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 1, 2022

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 14:46 AM CDTEF0Mason, IL0.460
August 11:56 PM EDTEF0Tuscola, MI2.4200
August 12:14 PM EDTEF0Tuscola, MI0.4100
August 16:05 PM CDTEF2Marshall, WV to PA1.8350$650,000
August 17:35 PM EDTEF0Greene, PA1.2150$200,000

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.