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EF1 tornado in Brown County, Illinois

Tornado February 28, 2017 · Brown County, Illinois

EF1
Rating
0.7 mi
Path length
50 yd
Path width
1
Injury
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 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

The tornado first touched down on the far west side of Versailles where it caused minor tree damage. The tornado traveled northeast and impacted a house which sustained roof damage. On the other side of the road, two single wide mobile home trailers were overturned. Damage at this location was rated high end EF1. Farther to the northeast, more substantial tree damage occurred. Several mature trees were topped, split and snapped at various heights above the ground. The surrounding structures sustained corresponding roof, siding and fascia damage. Damage was also rated high end EF1 along this portion of the track. The tornado continued northeast and crossed Illinois Route 99 and caused additional minor tree damage. The tornado moved northeast through the far northeast portion of town causing additional EF0 tree, roof and fascia damage to structures. The tornado dissipated as it moved out of the northeast corner of Versailles. Overall, the tornado was rated EF1 with a path length of 0.66 miles and a maximum path width of 50 yards.

The wider storm

A severe weather outbreak occurred on February 28th and lasted into the early morning hours of March 1st 2017. Four tornadoes were documented to have occurred in the National Weather Service St. Louis County Warning Area, including a portion of the long track tornado that caused damage north of Perryville, MO. Hail and wind reports were noted with many of the storms.

Began near Versailles (39.8845, -90.6636).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 682437. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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