EF2 tornado, Atkinson to Bradenburg Corners, Illinois, March 31, 2023

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF2

Date

March 31, 2023

Touchdown

6:37 PM CDT (23:37 UTC)

Lifted

6:43 PM CDT (23:43 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

6.8 miles (11.0 km)

Path width

650 yards (594 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Henry County

Touchdown point

41.230, -90.020

Lift-off point

41.270, -89.900

Record number

2303311737-01

26 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DVN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 118 mph.

• Shed destroyed. trees snapped
• panels found well downstream
• 3 poles snapped off, repaired

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A very strong system developed on the morning of March 31st and tracked across the state of Iowa. This system pulled unseasonably warm and moist air into the Midwest, which combined with a very favorable wind profile to create a volatile environment for severe thunderstorms. Discrete supercell thunderstorms occurred initially, but quickly transitioned into a QLCS mode. This system produced a historic tornado outbreak for the area, with a record 29 tornadoes on the day, including 13 rated EF-2, 1 rated EF-3, and 1 rated EF-4. This was the first EF-4 tornado in the NWS Quad Cities service area since 1995. 11 injuries were reported, with no known fatalities. In addition to the numerous tornadoes, there were many large hail and damaging wind reports. Maximum straight line thunderstorm winds were estimated at 80 to 90 mph.

An EF2 tornado developed north of Atkinson, in Henry County, and tracked northeast towards Hooppole, then tracking more easterly for another mile where it ended in western Bureau County as an EF1. For the most part, this tornado was around 200 yards wide, but maxed out at 440 yards just south of Hooppole. At the start of the path, a house sustained siding and window damage, with more damage done to the brick grain silo and outbuilding. As the tornado tracked northeast, additional barns, outbuildings, and trees were damaged. As the tornado moved just south of Hooppole, more outbuildings and barns were damaged, and a house sustained substantial damage, losing its entire roof. Near the end of the path, another grain silo collapsed. The peak estimated winds were 120 mph in Henry County. The tornado crossed into Bureau County about a third of a mile north of Highway 23, on 00 E St, then lifted about one mile to the E/NE.

This wide, multi-vortex EF2 tornado touched down west of Kewanee, where it damaged farm buildings and power poles. The tornado continued through the north side of Kewanee, where it primarily damaged trees and sheds. The tornado continued to the northeast of Kewanee with more significant tree and power pole damage. Estimated peak winds were near 120 mph.

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

8 minutes of warning. NWS DVN issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:29 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:47 UTC and running to 01:00 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:54 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 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.

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 66 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:35 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2023 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

126 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 127 of them

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.