EF1 tornado in Lee County, Illinois

This tornado began just south of Illinois Highway 92 in northwest Bureau County. It then tracked through far southeast Whiteside County within 3 miles of the town of Deer Grove. This tornado would continue for 6 additional miles into southwest Lee County, where it dissipated near Maytown Road and Atkinson Road. The damage from this tornado included numerous heavily damaged outbuildings, several snapped power poles, and dozens of trees. The worst damage was to a large farmstead outbuilding along the Whiteside-Bureau county line with the roof and two of the four walls destroyed and debris slung well into a field.

During the afternoon and evening of the 31st, a wave of severe thunderstorms produced numerous tornadoes, severe hail, extensive wind damage, and localized flooding across northern and northeastern Illinois. A total of 37 tornadoes were confirmed across the state. The NWS Chicago office tied a record for the most tornadoes to occur in a single calendar day within the office's county warning area with 22, 17 of which occurred in Illinois. One EF-2 tornado occurred in south-central Lee County and two others in northwest Indiana. Some of the more notable damage includes multiple semi trucks blown over, a garage that had been completely destroyed southeast of Amboy, and the partial roof collapse of the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere which unfortunately resulted in one fatality and 40 injuries.