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EF0 tornado in Iroquois County, Illinois

Tornado November 17, 2013 · Iroquois County, Illinois

EF0
Rating
4.5 mi
Path length
75 yd
Path width
$20K
Damage as recorded
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

Four farms were impacted with several large trees down or snapped. One outbuilding had its roof torn off. Maximum winds were estimated to 80 mph.

The wider storm

A major tornado outbreak impacted the Midwest and Ohio Valley on November 17th. A powerful low pressure system across the plains states steered warmth and moisture northward for nearly two days, with dew points rising into the mid 60's. This coupled with temperatures around 70 resulted in unseasonably strong instability for thunderstorms to develop. High wind shear and a cold front sweeping eastward made up the remaining ingredients of an environment favorable for supercells capable of long-lived significant tornadoes. Within the WFO LOT county warning area, ten tornadoes were confirmed, including three EF-2 tornadoes. As the event evolved, the system became linear with numerous reports of straight line wind damage. Behind the thunderstorms, a wake low developed with wind gusts to around 60 mph.

Began near Wellington (40.5168, -87.6733).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 484068. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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