EF1 Tornado — Shelby, Illinois

2025-03-14 · near Stewardson, Shelby, Illinois

Event narrative

The tornado began near the intersection of county roads 100N and 2700E, about two miles south-southwest of Stewardson, where a hardwood tree was uprooted and the northeast side of the roof of a farm outbuilding was peeled off. The tornado crossed county road 2700E and struck a larger farm complex where a large farm building had its walls collapse and strewn about three-quarters of a mile to the northeast. The tornado crossed county road 2800E, damaging a small farm outbuilding. It continued northeast, uprooting a few large hardwood trees just north of county roads 300N and 3000E before dissipating.

Wider weather episode

A potent low pressure system progressed across the Midwest on Friday, March 14, 2025. Ahead of this system, temperatures soared nearly 30 degrees above normal with high temperatures reaching the low 80s across central Illinois. Into the evening and overnight hours, a cold front swept across Illinois, with a line of severe thunderstorms developing ahead of the front. These storms produced widespread damaging straight-line winds and eight tornadoes within the NWS Lincoln County Warning Area, all of which occurred in eastern Illinois. Two of these tornadoes were rated EF-2: one in Moultrie and Piatt counties, and another in Cumberland and Coles counties. The latter of these resulted in two injuries.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.2300, -88.6500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1240112. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.