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F3 tornado in Henry County, Illinois

Tornado April 19, 1996 · Henry County, Illinois

Rating

3.5 mi

Whole path

100 yd

Path width

Injuries

$20.0M

Damage as recorded

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

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 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

10 Million in damage and 4 hospitalized as this tornado moved from Bishop Hill through Galva. At least 6 Million of damage was reported in the city limits of Galva where 150 homes were damaged, 26 received extensive damage, and 15 had to be destroyed. Extensive damage was also received to the city sewage treatment plant. A second, small and short lived tornado, did much less damage to the eastern part of town, most notably pushing over gravestones in a cemetery and downing trees.

Began near Bishop Hill (41.2000, -90.1200).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5555031. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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