December 17, 2024
State | Northwest Herald
State

Sublette tornado measured at a strong EF-2

By KATHLEEN A

This map, from the National Weather Service, shows where tornado damage is likely to have occurred, following Monday's storm.

SUBLETTE – The National Weather Service has sent survey teams to the Sauk Valley today to determine the exact type of weather that did all the damage.

The team from the NWS in Chicago, which monitors activity in Lee County, has found a quarter-mile-wide path of tornado damage in Woodhaven Lakes south of Sublette that resulted from a tornado of at least an EF-2 intensity.

That means the twister measured a 2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which rates the wind strength of twisters like the Richter scale measures earthquakes.

In meteorological terms, that's a step above weak, but not yet violent.

The scale:

EF-O: Weak, with winds 65 to 85 mph.

EF-1: Weak, 86 to 110 mph.

EF-2: Strong, 111 to 135 mph.

EF-3: Strong, 136 to 165 mph.

EF-4: Violent, 166 to 200 mph.

EF-5: Violent, 200 mph and higher.

A survey team from the NWS in the Quad Cities, which monitors Whiteside County, also is in the area, to determine if the winds that blew through Harmon were tornadic, as one weather chaser's video on the Chicago Tribune's website seems to indicate, straight-line, or something else.

It's apt to be 6 p.m. or later before more survey results are in, the weather service said.

#Sublette