EF1 tornado in Wayne County, Illinois

Numerous pine trees snapped near the base along the track northeast of Fairfield. One home near the beginning of the track had roof damage (a tarp covered half of the roof) with a nearby tree having many large branches broken. Further east, an anchored mobile home was lifted up and leaned over, not overturned but uninhabitable due to sustained major damage. Another home further ENE had substantial soffit and porch damage along with an old TV tower toppled and many snapped pine trees on the property. Peak winds were estimated at 90 mph.

A cold front, which stretched from Oklahoma to Central Illinois over to Northern Ohio, progressed slowly through the Quad State region, with an MCS moving through during the evening hours. An early afternoon SGF sounding placed MLCAPE at around 2000 J/kg. Deep layer shear was 50-55 kts with 0-1 km shear of 30 kts with 200 m2/s2 SRH. In Southern Illinois, there were two lines that developed. The southern line had a more SW to NE orientation further south and was weaker than portions further south in SE Missouri and far W Kentucky. The northern line had a more west to east orientation near the I-64 corridor and was much more active. Jefferson County in particular had severe damaging wind reports, large hail, and a brief EF-1 tornado north of Mount Vernon which did significant damage to a bus depot and several of the buses inside. A microburst developed just east of that tornado, scattering debris from a metal building system. A second EF-1 tornado occurred in Wayne County northeast of Fairfield, snapping many pine trees, and causing a mobile home to lean over. Additional wind damage reports were received along the I-64 corridor.