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EF1 tornado in Bureau County, Illinois

Tornado February 28, 2017 · Bureau County, Illinois

EF1

Rating

5.5 mi

Whole path

100 yd

Path width

$100K

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

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 EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This tornado touched down and spent most of its time moving through Stark County, Illinois, generally south of Bradford and just east of Castleton. It lifted in far western Bureau county. Trees were damaged by this tornado, along with a farm outbuilding, and minor damage to a few homes. The estimated peak wind was 95 mph. The entire path length was 5.51 miles, after initially touching down 5.3 miles southwest of Bradford, 41.11 N / -89.7145 W.

The wider storm

Following a week of record highs, a late winter severe weather outbreak brought widespread severe thunderstorms to Iowa, Illinois, and northeast Missouri. Supercell thunderstorms produced numerous reports of large hail and a few tornadoes. The tornadoes were the first ever recorded in the month of February, across eastern Iowa and northwest Illinois. Additionally, some damaging winds occurred after dark, when the storms formed into a line as they moved through Illinois. This outbreak of severe weather also included many locations in the southern half of Illinois, and Missouri.

Began near Milo (41.1560, -89.6386).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Bureau County EF1 Whiteside County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 674945. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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