EF2 Tornado — Clay, Illinois

2024-05-26 · near Oskaloosa, Clay, Illinois

Event narrative

This tornado originally touched down in Marion County in the National Weather Service Saint Louis County Warning Area (CWA), then crossed into southwestern Clay County just north of the intersection of Beard Road and Songer Township Lane at 7:35 PM CDT. It knocked down several trees and power lines before tracking northeastward and doing its greatest damage at a farm on the north end of Penguin Drive where several large metal buildings were demolished. The tornado then lifted just east of Xenia-Iola Road between Songer Township Lane and Hickory Hill Lane at 7:43 PM CDT.

Wider weather episode

Supercell thunderstorms developed along an outflow boundary from central Missouri into south-central Illinois along the I-70 corridor during the late afternoon and evening of May 26th. The storms eventually congealed into a line and swept eastward, causing significant wind damage across the southern portions of Clay, Richland, and Lawrence counties. Damage surveys revealed two tornadoes touched down...an EF-2 in Clay County northwest of Xenia and an EF-1 in Lawrence County south of Sumner.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.6963, -88.6977)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1183320. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.