Thunderstorm Wind in Clay County, Illinois

A tree was blown down onto Old Highway 50.

A warm front lifted northward through central Illinois during the afternoon of April 20th...allowing temperatures to climb well into the 70s. As a cold front approached from the west, scattered strong to severe thunderstorms developed in the Illinois River Valley by early evening. A few of the cells began rotating, especially as they approached the warm front along and north of the I-74 corridor. Three tornadoes touched down...including 2 EF-1 tornadoes in Knox County and another EF-1 in Tazewell County. Other cells produced scattered wind damage mainly west of I-55, with an isolated damaging wind gust occurring further southeast in Clay County later in the evening as the storms advanced eastward to the Indiana border.