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EF1 tornado in Morgan County, Illinois

Tornado June 18, 2025 · Morgan County, Illinois

EF1
Rating
7.6 mi
Path length
50 yd
Path width
1
Injury
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

Sentinel satellite data indicated a tornado began west of Highway 123 and north of Old Route 36. It crossed the highway at Kern Road and widened to about 50 yards as it continued northeast through farm fields. The tornado damaged a farm outbuilding and dented two grain silos at the intersection of Hog Barn Road and Buelah Road before continuing northeast through additional farm fields. A woman suffered a dislocated shoulder when winds associated with the tornado tossed her against her house. It damaged a few hardwood trees, then dissipated just north of Donnan Lane near the Morgan-Sangamon county line. The tornado was rated EF-1.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Alexander Negus Arpt (39.7689, -90.0478).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

12 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1261211. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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