Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2022

EF1 tornado, Oakdale Nature Prsrve to Freeport Albertus Ar, Illinois, May 25, 2022

From Oakdale Nature Prsrve to Freeport Albertus Ar, this EF1 tornado ran 1.8 miles across Stephenson County on May 25, 2022, touching down at 3:06 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 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
May 25, 2022
Touchdown
3:06 PM CDT (20:06 UTC)
Lifted
3:09 PM CDT (20:09 UTC)
On the ground
3 minutes
Path length
1.8 miles (2.9 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Stephenson County
Touchdown point
42.230, -89.584
Lift-off point
42.254, -89.569
Record number
2205251406-01

The damage survey

2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DVN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 99 mph.

  • Significant damage to a farm outbuilding, a tree trunk snapped, and a grain bin destroyed.

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 brief spin-up tornado occurred Wednesday afternoon just south of Freeport near the airport. No injuries were reported.

A brief tornado caused damage at a farmstead just southeast of the Albertus Airport. The tornado caused significant damage to an outbuilding, destroyed a grain bin, and snapped tree trunks. The tornado was rated EF1 with maximum winds around 100 mph. The tornado was on the ground for nearly 2 miles. Start and end times were estimated by radar. There were no injuries reported. Assistance from Stephenson County Emergency Management in completing the survey is greatly appreciated.

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.

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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:55 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

8.1 hours before the tornado, 103 km from the path. May 25, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2022-05-25Temperature 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 -79021, lifted condensation level 667 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, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2022-05-25The 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 264 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 40 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
-79021 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
667 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
264 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
285 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Davenport, (KDVN), 00:00Z

3.9 hours after it, 103 km from the path. May 26, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Davenport, at 00:00Z on 2022-05-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 227 joules per kilogram, CIN -6, lifted condensation level 782 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 2022-05-26The 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 155 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 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
227 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1389 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
782 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
155 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
184 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
2.4
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Freeport (FEP), 1 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:15 UTC64.464100° 8 kt1011.2BR
18:35 UTC65.365.3100° 9 kt1010.8BR
18:55 UTC65.765.580° 6 kt1010.2BR
19:15 UTC66.26670° 7 kt1009.8BR
19:35 UTC66.766.660° 8 kt1008.8RA
19:55 UTC6767100° 13 kt191008.5-RA
20:15 UTC67.567.3220° 10 kt1009.1
20:35 UTC6767240° 10 kt171009.5BR
20:55 UTC67.667.5240° 7 kt1009.1
21:15 UTC68.468.2240° 5 kt1008.8
21:35 UTC68.568.40° 0 kt1008.5
21:55 UTC69690° 0 kt1008.5

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

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 109 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:04 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
20:06 UTCTORNADO1 S Freeport AirportStephenson, ILA BRIEF TORNADO CAUSED DAMAGE AT A FARMSTEAD JUST SOUTHEAST OF THE ALBERTUS AIRPORT. THE TORNADO CAUSED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO AN OUTBUILDING, DESTROYED A GRAIN BIN, AND SNAPPED TREE TRUNKS.
20:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 S Freeport AlbertusStephenson, ILREPORTS OF DAMAGE TO A FARM FROM BROADCAST MEDIA AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT. SNAPPED TREES AND DAMAGE TO OUTBUILDINGS. TORNADO POSSIBLE.

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 25, 2022

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 255:11 AM CDTEF1Escambia, FL0.450
May 255:21 AM CDTEF1Jefferson, TX1.050$100,000
May 258:36 AM CDTEF0Pointe Coupee Parish, LA1.475
May 2510:28 AM CDTEF0DeKalb, AL0.365
May 2512:53 PM CDTEF0Leake, MS2.5150$50,000
May 251:16 PM CDTEF0Neshoba, MS2.3100$10,000
May 256:45 PM CDTEF0Rock, WI3.550$40,000

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.