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EF1 tornado in Madison County, Illinois

Tornado May 16, 2025 · Madison County, Illinois

EF1

Rating

23.2 mi

Whole path

1,035 yd

Path width

Deaths

Injuries

$1.6B

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through St. Louis County, Missouri → St. Louis (c) County, Missouri → Madison County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,035 yards (0.59 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

After crossing from St. Louis City, the tornado weakened. It caused EF-1 structural and tree damage in Granite City and Pontoon Beach before dissipating near Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville.

The wider storm

During the afternoon of May 16th, numerous supercells developed ahead of a cold front and within a favorable environment for high-end severe weather. These thunderstorms produced the St. Louis tornado which tracked into Madison County. Elsewhere, there were numerous reports of large hail and damaging winds.

Began near Madison (38.6894, -90.1974).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1262242. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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