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F3 tornado in McLean County, Illinois

Tornado April 19, 1996 · McLean County, Illinois

F3
Rating
9.2 mi
Whole path
880 yd
Path width
$2.0M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Tazewell County → McLean 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 F3 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F3 meant severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned; the scale paired it with winds of 158–206 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.

The wider storm

A tornado touched down just south of the Logan/Tazewell County line (on 1350E), causing minor damage to three homes. Then the tornado travelled to the northeast, through the south side of Armington, destroying one home as well as several outbuildings. Also, 2 homes sustained major damage and 5 homes sustained minor damage. After moving through the Armington area, the tornado moved into southwestern McLean County. Here it destroyed a church and one home and caused major damage to another home in the area. Also, 8 homes sustained minor damage and numerous barns, outbuildings, grain bins, trees, and farm equipment were either damaged or destroyed. No injuries were reported. Damage was estimated around $15,000 in Logan County, $1 million in Tazewell County, and around $1 million in McLean County.

Began near Mc Lean (40.3500, -89.2500).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F0 Logan County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5543911. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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