Hail in Schuyler County, Illinois

As a warm front lifted northward, a highly unstable and sheared environment developed across west-central Illinois during the afternoon and evening of April 4th. Despite the favorable parameters, thunderstorm activity was slow to initiate due to the lack of a forcing mechanism and the presence of low-level capping. As a subtle short-wave approached from the west and weakened the cap, a large supercell thunderstorm formed over southern McDonough County then tracked east-northeast across Fulton County. This storm produced a total of 4 tornadoes in Fulton County...including an EF-3 tornado that tracked across the northwest side of Lewistown. Very large hail was reported as well...with the largest stone measuring 4 inches in diameter in the town of Bernadotte.