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F2 tornado in Randolph County, Illinois

Tornado March 11, 2006 · Randolph County, Illinois

F2
Rating
49.5 mi
Whole path
300 yd
Path width
2
Deaths
12
Injuries
$2.2M
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 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

The fourth tornado from the Southeast Missouri supercell crossed into Randolph County Illinois about 9:47 pm CST moving across the southern portion of Kaskaskia Island. Debris originating from near St. Marys, Missouri was found in some fields on the island. Numerous snapped or uprooted trees were found on the island. The tornado crossed the Mississippi River on the north side of Chester with a damage path about 300 yards wide. F2 level damage was found just north of the Chester Correctional Center where a number of trees were leveled or snapped off. The tornado produced F1 damage at the Gorden Bud Cohen Recreational Complex where three wooden light posts were snapped off near the base, and several ball fields backstops and fences were blown over. Just to the east, three large pole barns and several outbuildings were destroyed, and a house had roof and exterior damage. The damage at this point was 300 yards wide and rated F2. The tornado continued to produced F1 to F2 damage along the remainder of its path through Randolph County with a nearly continuous 300 yard width. A Notable area of F2 damage were found just north and northeast of Bremen along Highway 150. This damage consisted of metal high power electric towers blown down, a destroyed mobile home, a number of destroyed barns and metal outbuildings, roof and exterior damage to several homes, and numerous trees uprooted. F2 damage was also found near Highway 150 about 1.5 miles west of Steeleville. The rear portion of a house had considerable roof and structural damage, several detached garages were destroyed, at least 5 metal outbuildings were destroyed, several barns destroyed, signs broken, and trees and power poles snapped. The tornado finally exited Randolph County about 1.5 miles south of Highway 154 on County Line Road about 10:15 pm CST.

Began near Chester (37.8333, -89.9000).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5495817. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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