EF1 tornado in Rock Island County, Illinois

A brief tornado occurred in the City of Rock Island, Illinois. The tornado was on the ground for 1.59 miles with a maximum width of 150 yards and a peak estimated winds of 95 MPH. The tornado knocked over and snapped large trees and produced minor damage to several roofs. Widespread damaging straight-line winds up to 90 mph also caused significant damage across the city.

There were two rounds of severe thunderstorms on April 4th. The first round in Illinois occurred during the morning hours. These storms developed in eastern Iowa and moved into northwest Illinois by mid morning. Despite the elevated nature of the storms and a very stable low level, a very strong downdraft surge occurred south of the hail core over the Illinois side of the Quad Cities metro, with the Quad City Airport ASOS measuring a wind gust near 90 MPH. Extensive damage occurred from Rock Island to Colona IL to buildings, trees and power poles, with some structures seeing ripped-off roofs. A survey team determined a brief tornadoes touched down in Moline, Colona, and near Geneseo Illinois.