EF1 tornado in Putnam County, Illinois

Tornado February 8, 2024 · Putnam County, Illinois

EF1

Rating

10.0 mi

Whole path

100 yd

Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Marshall County → Putnam County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A tornado touched down just east of Hwy 26 south of Henry, in northern Marshall County, at 440 pm CST. It crossed into Putnam county about 300 yards southeast of IL Highway 18, around 4:44 pm CST, and later overturned a semi on Hwy 18. Several large trees were uprooted or snapped along the path. In addition, some damage to a few outbuildings was observed. The tornado then dissipated in an open field that was seen by a chaser. Estimated peak winds reached 110 mph.

The wider storm

Several thunderstorms developed across much of eastern Iowa and northwest Illinois on the afternoon and early evening of February 8, 2024. Many of these storms had pea to dime size hail. The strongest storms occurred in Jackson County, IA and Jo Daviess, Stephenson, and Putnam counties in IL. Quarter to ping pong ball size fell with the storms in Jackson, Jo Daviess, and Stephenson counties, with the larger hailstones reported near Freeport, IL. A brief tornado developed just south of the Quad Cities County Warning Area in Marshall county and moved into Putnam county. A stronger tornado developed in Wisconsin.

Began near Magnolia (41.1038, -89.3062).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1152918. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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