EFU Tornado — Marshall, Illinois

2024-07-14 · near Varna, Marshall, Illinois

Event narrative

Sentinel satellite data showed that a tornado developed northeast of Varna, near county road 2350E between 800N and County Highway 14, tracking southeast across farm fields before ending at 800N. Due to a lack of damage indicators, this tornado was rated EF-Unknown.

Wider weather episode

Thunderstorms initiated across central and northern Iowa during the afternoon of July 14th. A highly unstable and sheared environment quickly led to upscale growth into a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) that tracked east-southeastward along the northern periphery of a prominent upper-level ridge centered over the southern Plains into the lower Mississippi River Valley. Widespread wind damage occurred within the path of the MCS during the evening of July 14th into the pre-dawn hours of July 15th...mainly north of the I-74 corridor. National Weather Service Lincoln damage survey teams found 3 tornado touchdowns along the leading edge of the storms in Marshall County, all 3 of which were rated EF-1. Additional analysis of Sentinel satellite data found two more brief tornadoes occurred in rural Marshall County. These two were rated EF-Unknown.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.0500, -89.1900)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1220971. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.