EF2 Tornado — Vermilion, Illinois

2013-11-17 · near Ellis, Vermilion, Illinois

Event narrative

This tornado crossed from Champaign County into Vermilion County 4.1 miles NW of Armstrong at 1:00 PM CST, then tracked northeastward across rural northwest Vermilion County. The tornado destroyed 1 home, 20 outbuildings, and a camper. It also damaged 7 other homes and snapped numerous power poles and trees. The tornado weakened as it moved out of Vermilion County into Iroquois County in National Weather Service Chicago's County Warning Area (CWA) about 3.7 miles WNW of Hoopeston at 1:14PM CST.

Wider weather episode

A powerful low pressure system tracked from the central Rockies toward the southern Great Lakes on November 17th. As the system approached central Illinois, unseasonably warm and humid air was pulled northward into the area, resulting in high temperatures soaring into the 70s. This very unstable airmass coupled with strong jet stream level winds aloft created numerous strong to severe thunderstorms. Many of the storms became supercells, producing damaging long-track tornadoes. A total of 10 tornadoes touched down across central Illinois, including an EF4 tornado that severely impacted the community of Washington in Tazewell County. Three people were killed and 142 others were injured as the storms tracked through the area. Total damage was estimated at 1.06 billion dollars across central Illinois.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.3485, -87.9310)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 483894. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.