Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2022

Unrated tornado, Texas Corner, Illinois, May 15, 2022

This Unrated tornado ran 0.1 miles across Marion County on May 15, 2022, touching down at 3:54 PM CDT and reaching 30 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 15, 2022
Touchdown
3:54 PM CDT (20:54 UTC)
Lifted
3:55 PM CDT (20:55 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Marion County
Touchdown point
38.640, -89.012
Lift-off point
38.640, -89.010
Record number
2205151454-01

The damage survey

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

  • A brief tornado touched down in a field southeast of the intersection of Boone Street Rd and Hoots Chapel Rd west of Salem. Several videos show the tornado in the field kicking up mainly dirt. The tornado lasted for an unknown amount of time, but likely not longer than 1 minute, before dissipating. No damage was reported and no injuries occurred. Time estimated via radar.

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

As a cold front moved through the region, it triggered showers and storms. Some of the storms became severe with reports of damaging winds, large hail and a brief tornado.

A brief tornado was captured on several videos. It touched down about half a mile south of the intersection of Boone Street and Hoots Chapel Road, to the east of Hoots Chapel Road in an empty field. Duration was likely less than 1 minute, no damage or injuries. The tornado was rated EFU with an estimated path length of 0.11 miles and an estimated path width of 30 yards.

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:25 UTC and running to 21:58 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:25 UTC21:58 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchLSX
21:18 UTC00:08 UTCFlash Flood WarningLSX

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 21:35 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), 12:00Z

8.9 hours before the tornado, 172 km from the path. May 15, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2022-05-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 44 joules per kilogram, CIN -231, lifted condensation level 1885 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 2022-05-15The 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 -68 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 34 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
44 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-231 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1885 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-68 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-86 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

3.1 hours after it, 172 km from the path. May 16, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2022-05-16Temperature 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 -27372, lifted condensation level 1757 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 2022-05-16The 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 -91 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 52 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-27372 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1757 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
52 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-91 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
249 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Salem/Leckrone (SLO), 4 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:55 UTC8761.7210° 6 kt1012.5
19:15 UTC86.463.3270° 7 kt1012.2
19:35 UTC87.864240° 7 kt151011.9
19:55 UTC86.262.4220° 5 kt1011.2
20:15 UTC8662.6230° 5 kt1010.5TS
20:35 UTC84.463200° 5 kt1009.8VCTS
20:55 UTC320° 17 kt1010.5TS
21:15 UTC67.663350° 17 kt281010.8-TSRA
21:35 UTC7063280° 9 kt1011.2-TSRA
21:55 UTC70.366.2290° 6 kt1011.5+TSRA
22:15 UTC70.765.710° 4 kt1010.8-VCTSRA
22:35 UTC71.466.20° 0 kt1010.2

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

The radar

The Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 120 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:52 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
20:54 UTCTORNADO2 Sw TontiMarion, ILVIDEOS SHOW A BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN WEST OF SALEM, IL IN EMPTY FIELD. DURATION LIKELY LESS THAN 1 MINUTE, NO DAMAGE OR INJURIES.

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 15, 2022

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 151:44 PM EDTEF0Duval, FL0.01

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.