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F0 tornado in Mercer County, Illinois

Tornado April 30, 2003 · Mercer County, Illinois

F0
Rating
1.0 mi
Whole path
25 yd
Path width
$550K
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 25 yards (0.01 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F0 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F0 meant light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken; the scale paired it with winds of 40–72 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

House damaged

The wider storm

Supercell thunderstorms developed in the afternoon and evening north of a warm front that ran from Southern Iowa into Central Illinois. Three distinct supercells produced a majority of the wind, hail, and heavy rain reports from Jefferson County Iowa into Henry County Illinois. Mercer County Illinois was under tornado warnings on a continuous basis for 2 hours. Officials at a high school track meet in Aledo, Illinois ushered all students into the safety of the school resulting in no injuries. The training of the supercells from Louisa County Iowa to Henry County Illinois dumped heavy rain over the Edwards River and Pope Creek basins in Illinois with radar estimating 9 inches of rain. Actual amounts varied due to large amounts of hail with the storms. Cambridge Illinois estimated 7 to 8 inches of rain fell in the town. Illinois Route 17 was closed due to flooding between Aledo and Viola with Illinois Route 94 closed south of Aledo. In Andover Illinois, two thirds of the town had basements flooded. Toward the end of the event a bow echo developed in Henry County Illinois and raced east across Bureau and Putnam counties. The fire department in Standard, Illinois measured a 69 knot (80 mph) wind gust when the bow echo moved through. In Clinton, Iowa, a lightning strike started a warehouse fire at the Nestle Purnina Complex.

Began near Viola (41.2000, -90.5833).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F1 Mercer CountyF1 Mercer CountyF0 Mercer CountyF0 Henry County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5353611. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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