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EF0 tornado in Clay County, Illinois

Tornado March 8, 2009 · Clay County, Illinois

EF0

Rating

5.6 mi

Whole path

75 yd

Path width

$110K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Wayne County → Clay County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 75 yards (0.04 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The tornado initially touched down in the National Weather Service Paducah County Warning Area (CWA) in Wayne County at 11:58 AM CST. It then tracked northeastward and crossed into southern Clay County at 12:03 PM CST. The tornado quickly dissipated by 12:04 PM CST 7.3 miles southeast of Clay City. One home experienced minor damage and numerous trees were blown down.

The wider storm

A cold front raced through the region during the afternoon of March 8th, producing strong to severe thunderstorms. The storms spawned three tornadoes across central and southeast Illinois, as well as numerous reports of wind damage.

Began near Camp Travis (38.6000, -88.2759).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Sangamon County EF1 Lawrence County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 157471. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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