Central Illinois

Weather Forecast Office

Sangamon/Christian County Tornado of August 6, 2023

Overview

A long track tornado passed between Springfield and Taylorville on August 6th. It was on the ground for close to an hour, and rated as a peak intensity of EF2 northeast of Taylorville. Additional severe weather, mainly in the form of tree damage or large hail, occurred across east central and southeast Illinois.

Tornado south of Edinburg around 6:25 pm. Photo by Shae Cohan.

Tornado
Photos & Video
Radar
Storm Reports
Environment

Tornadoes

Sangchris Lake/Willeys Tornado
SANGAMON AND CHRISTIAN COUNTIES

Date	August 6, 2023
Time (Local)	6:09 pm to 7:03 pm
EF Rating	EF2
Est. Peak Winds	125 mph
Path Length	25.7 miles
Max Width	1/4 mile
Injuries/Deaths	None
Summary: This tornado touched down in southeast Sangamon County about 3 miles north of Pawnee, before crossing the Christian County border and over Sangchris Lake. It tracked east-southeast and passed north of Tovey and Kincaid. It crossed Route 29 southeast of Sharpsburg and over mainly open fields between Routes 29 and 48. The strongest damage occurred 2 miles south of Willeys, along 1600 East Rd. just south of 1600 North Rd.

Track Map

Downloadable KMZ File


Southwest of Sharpsburg	Southwest of Sharpsburg	South of Willeys	Comparing the nearly identical track NE of Taylorville to the 6/29 tornado

The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:

EF0 Weak 65-85 mph	EF1 Moderate 86-110 mph	EF2 Significant 111-135 mph	EF3 Severe 136-165 mph	EF4 Extreme 166-200 mph	EF5 Catastrophic 200+ mph

Photos & Video

Header


Caption (source)	Caption (source)	Caption (source)	Caption (source)

Radar

Lincoln Doppler radar images


6:20 pm reflectivity and storm relative motion image. A hook echo is visible on the left panel northwest of Kincaid, with a strong rotation on the right panel.	6:30 pm images, clockwise from top left: Reflectivity, storm relative motion, normalized rotation, correlation coefficient.	6:48 pm reflectivity and storm relative motion images, as the tornado is at its strongest point northeast of Taylorville.	Caption

Storm Reports

Preliminary Local Storm Report...Summary
National Weather Service Lincoln IL
1139 PM CDT Sun Aug 6 2023

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0528 PM     Funnel Cloud     3 NNW Berlin            39.79N 89.92W
08/06/2023                   Sangamon           IL   Public



0555 PM     Tstm Wnd Dmg     3 E Southern View       39.76N 89.60W
08/06/2023                   Sangamon           IL   Newspaper

            Power line down on E. Lake Shore Dr. Time
            estimated from radar.

0610 PM     Tornado          2 ENE Glenarm           39.63N 89.61W
08/06/2023                   Sangamon           IL   Storm Chaser

            Touched down 3 miles southwest of New City.

0611 PM     Hail             4 WSW Berry             39.68N 89.53W
08/06/2023  E1.00 inch       Sangamon           IL   Public

            Report from mPING: Quarter (1.00 in.).

0613 PM     Tornado          2 NNE Pawnee            39.62N 89.57W
08/06/2023                   Sangamon           IL   Emergency Mngr

            A farmstead was damaged near the
            intersection of Cotton Hill Road and
            Skaggs Road. The roof was damaged and a
            few trees were uprooted.

0633 PM     Hail             5 S Rochester           39.68N 89.54W
08/06/2023  E1.00 inch       Sangamon           IL   Public



0646 PM     Tornado          3 NE Taylorville        39.58N 89.23W
08/06/2023                   Christian          IL   Emergency Mngr

            Several homes and garages were damaged along
            1600 East Road. Numerous trees and power
            poles were snapped as well.

0650 PM     Hail             7 N Taylorville         39.66N 89.30W
08/06/2023  E2.00 inch       Christian          IL   Public



0700 PM     Hail             1 NW Taylorville        39.56N 89.31W
08/06/2023  E1.00 inch       Christian          IL   Public

Environment

Insert synoptic summary.


Figure 1: WPC Surface Analysis 08/06/2023 12z	Figure 2: WPC Surface Analysis 08/06/2023 18z	Figure 3: WPC Surface Analysis 08/07/2023 00z

Near-storm environment summary.


Figure 4: ILX Sounding 08/06/2023 12z	Figure 5: ILX Sounding 08/07/2023 00z

Additional environmental data.


Figure 7: SPC Day 4 Probabilistic Outlook	Figure 8: SPC Day 3 Categorical Outlook	Figure 9: SPC Day 2 Categorical Outlook


Figure 10: SPC Day 1 Categorical Outlook	Figure 11: SPC Day 1 Hail Outlook	Figure 12: SPC Day 1 Tornado Outlook	Figure 12: SPC Day 1 Wind Outlook

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