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EF2 tornado in Jefferson County, Illinois

Tornado March 23, 2012 · Jefferson County, Illinois

EF2
Rating
2.6 mi
Path length
100 yd
Path width
1
Death
2
Injuries
$150K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

A tied down double wide mobile home was destroyed. A elderly lady was killed and a teenage boy was injured when the mobile home was lofted by the tornado and carried approximately 100 yards to the northeast, with the mobile home undercarriage carried approximately 200 yards. One home had windows blown out on the second story. One barn was heavily damaged with 2 others receiving moderate damage. Several trees were blown down or snapped. Peak winds were estimated near 130 mph.

The wider storm

A large upper level low pressure system moved east from Missouri into an area of warm, moist air with dewpoint temperatures in the 60s. Strong mid level winds helped to produce severe thunderstorms, including supercells.

Began near Shirley (38.2730, -88.8140).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Jackson CountyEF0 Jackson County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 374200. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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