Tornado in Effingham County, Illinois
Tornado February 19, 2026 · Effingham County, Illinois
The path drawn at its surveyed width of 20 yards (0.01 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.
What the National Weather Service wrote
A brief tornado was confirmed via storm chaser video. No damage occurred, so an intensity rating could not be assigned.
The wider storm
A surface low lifted northeastward across Missouri towards the Illinois-Iowa border during the afternoon and evening of February 19th. A warm front extended east from the low into southeast Illinois. In response to this system, scattered supercell thunderstorms developed across central and southeast Illinois, with the greatest coverage being in the general vicinity of the I-70 corridor. Environmental conditions supported all severe hazards, including large hail up to 2.5 inches in diameter, damaging winds, and tornadoes, with a total of eight tornadoes occurring in the NWS Lincoln coverage area. Most of these tornadoes were brief, and none were stronger than EF-1, but one serious injury occurred in Crawford County as a result of a tornado. Another indirect injury occurred on I-57 in Effingham County when thunderstorm winds contributed to a multi-vehicle accident.
Began near Mason (38.9430, -88.5800).
Other tornadoes from the same storm system
7 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1317774. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.
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