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F4 tornado in Woodford County, Illinois

Tornado July 13, 2004 · Woodford County, Illinois

F4
Rating
9.6 mi
Path length
440 yd
Path width
3
Injuries
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 440 yards (0.25 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F4 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F4 meant devastating damage: well-built houses levelled; the scale paired it with winds of 207–260 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

The tornado touched down around 234 pm CDT approximately 1.75 miles north-northeast of Metamora in western Woodford County. The tornado traveled southeast for about 2.5 miles, before beginning a temporary eastward jog between county roads 1300E and 1400E. The tornado curved southeast again, striking the Parsons Company, Inc.'s manufacturing plant around 241 pm CDT. The plant was severely damaged by the tornado. Approximately 140 people were in the plant at the time, but all personnel made it to storm shelters in time (approximately 3 to 5 minutes before the tornado arrived). Steel beams and metal siding from the plant were found approximately three quarters of a mile east in a farm field. From the plant, the tornado continued east, just south of Illinois Route 116/117, affecting 4 farmsteads approximately 1/2 to 1 mile east of the plant. Two of the farmsteads closest to the plant (about 1/2 to 3/4 mile east) had the 2-story houses completely blown away, with only debris remaining in the basements and nearby property. The other two farmsteads had significant damage to the 2-story houses with outbuildings demolished. The center of the tornado tracked about 100 yards south of the houses located on the south side of the road.From the plant to the farmsteads, the average width of the tornado was 400 yards and was close to 1/4 mile wide at times. The greatest tornado intensity was during this approximately 1 mile stretch and has been rated F4 by the National Weather Service.At this point, the tornado began to move more east-southeast and caused significant damage to a barn near the intersection of County Roads 1300N and 1600E, about 2.5 miles southwest of Roanoke. The tornado continued to move east-southeast and damaged a house about 1.25 miles south-southwest of Roanoke, near the intersection of County Roads 1300N and 1700E. The tornado crossed 1300N shortly afterward and curved sharply to the southeast. The tornado lifted around 254 pm about 2 miles southeast of Roanoke, at County Road 1900E.

Began near Metamora (40.8000, -89.3333).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

F0 McLean County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5412045. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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