EF3 Tornado — Christian, Illinois

2018-12-01 · near Palmer, Christian, Illinois

Event narrative

A tornado touched down about 3.2 miles east-southeast of Morrisonville at 5:01 PM CST. It hit a farmstead, destroying 3 barns and severely damaging 4 other out buildings. The tornado was rated EF2 at this location with maximum wind speeds of 112 mph. The tornado continued moving northeastward, hitting several other outbuildings and snapping trees. The tree and outbuilding damage was classified as EF1 damage with wind speeds of 100-110mph. As the tornado continued to the northeast it snapped more large trees and then hit a log home, removing 25-50% of the roof material. It also snapped many other trees on this property and destroyed a couple of small outbuildings, throwing the debris northward into a field. The tornado was rated EF2 at this location with wind speeds of 115mph. The tornado continued northeastward and moved into a wooded area, snapping and uprooting hundreds of trees along its path. It then curved north-northeastward and moved into Hewittville, a small community on the southern edge of Taylorville. Here the tornado destroyed or severely damaged multiple houses. The first house the tornado hit lost most exterior walls and the entire roof, except for the roof over the attached garage, which was on the north side of the house. It also destroyed a second garage on the property and then completely destroyed a mobile home across the street. The tornado was rated EF3 with wind speeds around 150mph at this location. The tornado continued north-northeastward, destroying a barn, pushing an unanchored home off its foundation and completely destroying another mobile home. This mobile home was partially anchored by wood posts set in slots on a concrete foundation over a basement and crawl space. The resident of this home was badly injured and was found unconscious, trapped under debris in the crawl space. The tornado was rated EF3 with wind speeds of 140mph at this location. As the tornado continued, it snapped and uprooted many more trees and took down power lines and power poles. Many more homes were damaged, to a lesser extent than the first few on the south end of town, with some damage to the homes coming from trees or tree branches falling on the homes. As the tornado moved into the northern part of Hewittville, the wind speeds seemed to increase, completely destroying another home and destroying a large, old building that had been part of an old rail-yard. The tornado also damaged other homes and garages in this area. The tornado was rated EF3 with wind speeds of 155mph at this location. As the tornado tracked north-northeastward, it moved into Taylorville, taking down more trees, power lines/poles, and damaging multiple houses. Several homes lost roofs and garages. The tornado continued through Taylorville damaging other homes and several businesses on West Spresser St. and was rated EF2 with wind speeds of 120-125mph at this point. As the tornado crossed Hwy 29 into the northern part of town, it weakened considerably, with the damage becoming less severe and more sporadic. The tornado dissipated 1.8 miles north of Taylorville at 5:25 PM CST. In total, the tornado impacted 506 structures...including major damage to 61 homes and 7 businesses and complete destruction of 28 homes. Total damage was estimated at $118.9 million.

Wider weather episode

An historic tornado outbreak occurred across Illinois on December 1st, with a total of 29 tornadoes touching down across the central part of the state. This made it the largest December tornado outbreak in the state of Illinois since 1957, and the third largest tornado outbreak across Illinois in any month since 1950. Within the National Weather Service Lincoln County Warning Area (CWA), 20 tornadoes touched down...with the most significant being an EF-3 tornado that tore through the city of Taylorville in Christian County. Despite several communities being directly impacted and experiencing major damage, there were no fatalities reported. The severe weather was caused by a deep area of low pressure that tracked from eastern Kansas into north-central Illinois. Warm air surging northward ahead of the low allowed temperatures to soar into the upper 50s and lower 60s, resulting in a narrow corridor of Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) values of 500-1000J/kg ahead of an approaching occluded front. Thanks to ample low-level wind shear, numerous supercell thunderstorms developed within the instability axis by mid to late afternoon. Many of the storms produced tornadoes over the next several hours before the storms gradually weakened by mid-evening.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.4140, -89.3950)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 795053. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.