EF2 Tornado — Jefferson, Illinois

2011-05-25 · near Woodlawn, Jefferson, Illinois

Event narrative

At least three houses lost portions of roof substructure, including roof decking. Numerous other homes sustained various degrees of shingle damage. Some houses lost siding. A total of 101 residences sustained damage, with 23 of those homes deemed uninhabitable. A folded up pop-up camper and adjacent shed were blown 50 to 75 feet. Dozens of trees and power poles were snapped. A twin-pole wooden tower carrying high-voltage power lines was leaning. The community of Boyd was directly impacted. In Boyd, a large machine shed/sawmill was destroyed. A church lost some shingles and roofing. There were numerous eyewitnesses and at least one photo of the tornado funnel. Peak winds were estimated near 115 mph. The average path width was 200 yards.

Wider weather episode

Numerous strong to severe thunderstorms occurred in the warm sector of a low pressure system over central Missouri. The air mass in the warm sector was very unstable, with afternoon mixed-layer cape values in the 2500 to 4000 j/kg range. A 65 to 75 knot mid level jet was located across Arkansas, with the nose of the jet moving into western Kentucky. This feature enhanced the lift and strong deep-layer shear already in place, creating an environment very favorable for supercells and tornadoes. A 40 to 55 knot low level jet across eastern Arkansas moved into western Kentucky during the evening, resulting in isolated tornadoes and widespread damaging winds.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.3605, -89.1238)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 307040. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.