Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2022

Unrated tornado, Good Hope, Illinois, May 13, 2022

This Unrated tornado ran 0.1 miles across McDonough County on May 13, 2022, touching down at 4:49 PM CDT and reaching 10 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 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 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. 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 13, 2022
Touchdown
4:49 PM CDT (21:49 UTC)
Lifted
4:59 PM CDT (21:59 UTC)
On the ground
10 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
McDonough County
Touchdown point
40.580, -90.681
Lift-off point
40.580, -90.679
Record number
2205131549-01

The damage survey

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DVN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry.

  • A storm chaser observed a landspout tornado nearly stationary in a field, kicking up dust. There was no visible damage to assign an EF-scale rating.

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 line of showers and thunderstorms developed during the late afternoon of Friday, May 13, 2022 generally along and east of the Mississippi River in northwest Illinois. Some thunderstorms did become severe along that line, and produced all modes of severe weather including hail up to one inch, wind gusts to 60 MPH and three landspout tornadoes. One occurred near Good Hope IL, with the other two just south of Monmouth IL. Some reports of flooding were also received, especially near Roseville IL.

A storm chaser reported a nearly stationary landspout on the ground, kicking up dust. There was no observable damage to assign an EF-scale rating.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:50 UTC22:15 UTCTornado WarningDVN
22:40 UTC23:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm 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. The outlook in force was issued at 20:31 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), 12:00Z

9.8 hours before the tornado, 117 km from the path. May 13, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2022-05-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 723 joules per kilogram, CIN -160, lifted condensation level 938 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, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2022-05-13The 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 -72 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 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
723 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-160 J/kg
Surface CAPE
133 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
938 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-72 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-52 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-1.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Davenport, (KDVN), 00:00Z

2.2 hours after it, 117 km from the path. May 14, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Davenport, at 00:00Z on 2022-05-14Temperature 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 -312, lifted condensation level 2438 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, Davenport, at 00:00Z on 2022-05-14The 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 -19 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 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
-312 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2438 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-19 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
144 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
7.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Macomb Municipal (MQB), 7 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:55 UTC9158.390° 9 kt141011.9
20:15 UTC91.458.5100° 6 kt1011.5
20:35 UTC9259110° 7 kt1011.5
20:55 UTC9259.4110° 12 kt151011.2
21:15 UTC9058120° 3 kt91011.2
21:35 UTC90.760150° 6 kt1011.2
21:55 UTC9257.2160° 10 kt1010.5
22:15 UTC9256.5200° 9 kt1010.8
22:35 UTC8057320° 7 kt191010.8-RA
22:55 UTC70.762.2320° 18 kt321011.9+RA
23:15 UTC71.859150° 15 kt1011.5RA
23:35 UTC69.862140° 10 kt1011.5-RA

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

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 115 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:49 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
21:50 UTCTORNADO2 N Good HopeMcdonough, ILLANDSPOUT NEARLY STATIONARY IN A FIELD. DUST AT THE GROUND.
22:08 UTCTORNADO1 S MonmouthWarren, ILLANDSPOUT.
22:09 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Wsw MonmouthWarren, ILREPORT FROM MPING: 3-INCH TREE LIMBS BROKEN; POWER POLES BROKEN.
22:20 UTCTSTM WND GST 60Swan CreekWarren, IL
22:20 UTCTORNADO2 Ssw MonmouthWarren, ILBRIEF TORNADO REPORTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT.
22:35 UTCHAIL 11 Ssw Swan CreekWarren, IL
22:49 UTCHAIL 1.252 N Good HopeMcdonough, IL
22:52 UTCHAIL 11 S MacombMcdonough, IL
22:58 UTCHAIL 12 Sse MacombMcdonough, IL
22:59 UTCHAIL 11 Nnw BushnellMcdonough, IL
23:00 UTCFLASH FLOODMonmouthWarren, ILSEVERAL CITY STREETS IN MONMOUTH FLOODED.
23:00 UTCHAIL 1.753 Se BrooklynSchuyler, ILDELAYED REPORT. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
00:00 UTCFLASH FLOOD1 Nne AvonFulton, ILGALLETT CREEK SPILLING ONTO SOME LOW LYING ROADS ACROSS FAR NW FULTON CO, NORTH OF AVON.
00:45 UTCFLOOD2 W LittletonSchuyler, ILWATER OVER THE ROAD AT IL RTE 101 AND WHITE FRAME RD, BUT PASSABLE.

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 May 13, 2022

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 135:08 PM CDTUnratedWarren, IL0.110
May 135:20 PM CDTUnratedWarren, IL0.110

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.