EF2 Tornado — Piatt, Illinois

2025-03-14 · near Hammond, Piatt, Illinois

Event narrative

This tornado began in far northern Moultrie County, where it produced EF-1 damage to trees, roofs, and a few outbuildings along a three mile path before continuing into Piatt County. It entered into Piatt County at the southwest corner of Hammond and then continued along a curved path for over nine additional miles. Numerous trees were damaged in Hammond, some of which caused damage to buildings as they fell. The peak intensity of EF-2 occurred near the intersection of Don Ryan St. and country road 100, where a farm outbuilding was completely destroyed with debris strewn to the northeast. The tornado continued to produce damage to trees and farm outbuildings as it continued east, and eventually east-northeast, for several more miles. The tornado dissipated northeast of the intersection of county roads North 1400 East Road and State Highway 105, about one mile west of the Champaign-Piatt County line. From its start in Moultrie County through its dissipation in Piatt County, this tornado lasted a total of 13 minutes.

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.

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Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1240119. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.