EF0 Tornado — Monroe, Illinois

2023-04-15 · near Chalfin Bridge, Monroe, Illinois

Event narrative

At 6:34 PM CDT a tornado touched down on Bluff Road about 1.8 miles southwest of Maeystown. As it tracked to the northeast it caused minor tree damage as well as moderate damage to a farm outbuilding on the southwest side of town. It continued to the northeast across Monroe County causing sporadic tree damage and destroyed a small outbuilding. About 1.5 miles southwest of Hecker the roof of a barn was removed. The tornado crossed into southern St. Clair County about 0.4 of a mile northwest of Hecker. The tornado was rated EF0 with a max wind speed of 85 mph. The path length in Monroe County was 15.91 miles with a max path width of 100 yards. Overall, the tornado was rated EF1 with a max wind speed of 100 mph. The total path length was 19.57 miles with a max path width of 100 yards. No deaths or injuries were reported.

Wider weather episode

Several strong to severe thunderstorms moved into eastern Missouri in the afternoon hours of April 15th. These storms were initially producing copious large hail, but rapidly transitioned into tornadic storms. The first tornado was associated with a supercell ahead of a congealing line of convection moving rapidly toward the Mississippi River. A portion of this line of storms rapidly surged eastward, resulting in numerous tornadoes in Jefferson county in Missouri, and Monroe, Madison, St. Clair, and Washington counties in Illinois. In total, 12 tornadoes have been identified, including 3 EF-1s, 6 EF-0s, and 3 tornadoes of unknown intensity that produced no damage.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.2116, -90.2623)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1093828. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.