EF1 Tornado — Sangamon, Illinois

2025-06-18 · near Pleasant Plains, Sangamon, Illinois

Event narrative

Sentinel satellite data indicated a tornado began 2.6 miles northwest of Berlin, initially traveling northeast through farm fields. It snapped several large trees at a farmstead along north Pleasant Plains Road. As it continued along its path, it tossed a pair of grain bins across Watts Road and produced tree damage near Claysville. It continued through fields to the northeast, eventually crossing into Menard County where it produced minor damage to trees and structures west and dissipated northwest of Loyd. The tornado had a peak intensity rating of EF-1.

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 → (39.8200, -89.9200)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1261213. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.