EF0 tornado in Monroe County, Illinois

Tornado March 15, 2026 · Monroe County, Illinois

EF0

Rating

8.7 mi

Whole path

25 yd

Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Monroe County → Randolph County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 25 yards (0.01 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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

A tornado touched down just east of Ames where it collapsed a large farm outbuilding before exiting into Randolph County. The doors of the structure were open at the time of the event.

The wider storm

During the afternoon and evening of March 15th, a QLCS moved through southern and south-central Illinois. Stronger segments of the QLCS produced wind damage across the region. The QLCS ended up producing 8 tornadoes while it passed through the region.

Began near Ames (38.1455, -90.0505).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Macoupin County EF1 St. Clair County EF1 Montgomery County EF1 Montgomery County EF1 Montgomery County EF1 Clinton County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1325686. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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