EF2 tornado in White County, Illinois

This tornado several miles southeast of Carmi severely damaged two farms. Over a dozen grain bins were destroyed. One of the grain bins followed a curved path that crossed a fence twice. A seven-ton truck that was parked in a shed was overturned onto its side. An equipment shed was unroofed. Windows were blown out on all sides of a large, multi-story house. The house sustained considerable loss of roofing material and collapse of a non load-bearing wall. Several objects in the house were found across the street, including a mirror and curtains. Power poles were snapped. Irrigation pivots were overturned. The pattern of flattened corn stubble indicated convergent winds in a field. Peak winds were estimated near 130 mph. The average path width was 125 yards.

Thunderstorms organized into a bow echo that produced widespread very damaging winds and isolated tornadoes. A shortwave trough over the central and southern high Plains moved northeast through the Mid-Mississippi Valley into the upper Great Lakes. A surface low attendant to this system moved from west central Missouri northeast to north of St. Louis. The trailing cold front advanced southeast across the Lower Ohio Valley and served as the primary focus for thunderstorms.