EF1 Tornado — Morgan, Illinois

2025-06-18 · near Jacksonville, Morgan, Illinois

3.9 mi

Path length

75 yds

Path width

Event narrative

A tornado began near State Highway 104, between Lafayette Avenue and Westwinds Drive. It tracked northeast for 3.6 miles and was on the ground for eight minutes, with the most prolific damage being rated EF-1. The tornado damaged numerous trees, a power company outbuilding, and caused roofing damage to multiple residences on the northwest side of Jacksonville. It then struck an outdoor sports complex, causing substantial damage to the middle portion of an outbuilding, shredding outdoor baseball netting, and strewing sheet metal and other debris to the northeast through the fields. The tornado continued through open fields for several miles before producing additional damage to trees, outbuildings, and residences along Baldwin and Sandusky Roads, immediately southwest of the Jacksonville Airport. It continued northeast through the northwest corner of the Jacksonville Airport property before damaging some trees along Zimmer Road and lifting.

Wider weather episode

A mesoscale convective vortex, or MCV, moved into central Illinois late on the morning of Wednesday, June 18th. Moderate instability developed ahead of this feature, and as scattered storms formed they quickly obtained rotation due to shear from the MCV. A total of 14 tornadoes occurred within the NWS Central Illinois county warning area, mainly west of I-55. One minor injury occurred when winds associated with a tornado tossed a woman against her home in Morgan County. Across eastern Illinois, a line of storms developed during the afternoon, mainly producing wind damage before shifting east into Indiana. A wake low developed after the MCV passed, resulting in a short period of non-thunderstorm wind gusts, generally between 45 and 55 mph. The highest non-thunderstorm wind gust associated with the wake low was 58 mph.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.7346, -90.2735)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1261206. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.