EF1 tornado in Macon County, Illinois

The tornado crossed from Christian County into Macon County 0.6 miles north of State Route 48, damaging trees and structures in Blue Mound, including the roof of

Meridian Elementary School. It also destroyed 2 grain bins south

of the school. It tracked east-southeast, taking down electrical

transmission lines and numerous large tree branches to the southeast of Route 51 before crossing into far northern Shelby County near Long Grove Creek.

Several rounds of significant convection impacted central Illinois on June 17th, 2026. Clusters of thunderstorms initially formed on the nose of a strong low-level jet streak across Iowa during the pre-dawn hours, then tracked southeastward along a warm frontal boundary into central Illinois through midday. Scattered damaging wind gusts were reported in north-central Illinois, with the most concentrated corridor of 60-70 mph winds focused along a Galesburg, to Peoria, to Chenoa line.

Thunderstorms re-developed along a remnant outflow boundary from the morning convection by mid to late afternoon, with the most intense cells materializing along and south of a Springfield to Paris line where several tornadoes occurred and hail larger than baseballs (3 diameter) was reported across portions of Moultrie, Douglas, and Coles counties. An EF2 tornado impacted the Mattoon to Charleston area, and an EF3 tracked just north of Effingham.