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F2 tornado in Sangamon County, Illinois

Tornado March 12, 2006 · Sangamon County, Illinois

F2
Rating
86.3 mi
Whole path
880 yd
Path width
22
Injuries

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Calhoun County → Pike County → Greene County → Greene County → Greene County → Scott County → Scott County → Morgan County → Morgan County → Sangamon County → Sangamon County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 880 yards (0.50 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 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

Continuation of Morgan county tornado. The total path length of the tornado was about 65.5 miles, including a 45.0 mile path across the WFO Central Illinois service area.Damage from the storm over Scott, Morgan and rural Sangamon counties consisted of the snapping of power poles and major tree damage, either ripped up or uprooted. Numerous farm buildings (both Morton type buildings and barns) were damaged or destroyed, as were numerous grain bins. One mobile home was destroyed.This long track tornado moved into the city of Springfield before dissipating. The tornado crossed Interstate 72 near mile marker 92, around 8:20 PM. It entered the city of Springfield near Cockrell Lane and Constitution Drive, tracking to the east-northeast around 50 mph. The tornado was about 300 yards wide, and produced F2 damage to several businesses from Constitution Drive, through Parkway Pointe, to Veterans Parkway and Lindbergh Blvd.The tornado widened to about 0.4 mile wide as it continued to track east-northeast south of Wabash Avenue, between Veterans Parkway and Chatham Road. The tornado widened further, to just over 1/2 mile wide from Westchester Blvd to the village of Jerome. The damage was rated as F2 along Wabash Avenue, between Chatham Road and MacArthur Blvd.The tornado then weakened slightly, producing F1 damage, as it turned to the northeast, nearly parallel with the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks. The damage path remained nearly 1/2 mile wide. The width of the tornado decreased to about 1/4 mile wide as it strengthened again, and turned to the north-northeast near Iles Park and in the vicinity of Oak and Myrtle Streets, between 6th and 9th Streets. The damage was rated as F2 in these locations, with roofs blown off of homes and businesses, and garages severely damaged. This tornado dissipated just north of 9th Street and South Grand Avenue.1 injury was reported in Morgan county, with 19 injuries reported in Sangamon county. No fatalities were reported.

Began near New Berlin (39.6833, -89.9667).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5493732. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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