EF2 tornado in Wabash County, Illinois

Four homes were damaged, and two mobile homes were destroyed. One mobile home was thrown across the road and the frame was wrapped around a tree. One woman inside was injured. Another nearby mobile home was turned on its side. One home had part of the roof lifted off. The garage of the residence was destroyed, but most of the articles inside were left untouched. Debris from this residence was thrown several hundred yards. Several outbuildings were destroyed. Peak winds in this tornado were estimated near 125 mph. The peak intensity occurred almost due north of Mount Carmel. This tornado was spawned by the same supercell that produced EF-2 tornadoes in Wayne and Edwards Counties.

Supercell thunderstorms developed along a pre-frontal low pressure trough over Missouri and then moved east across southern Illinois. Very strong wind fields coupled with moderate amounts of instability resulted in several supercell thunderstorms, some of which produced tornadoes. The storms moved through the warm sector of a low pressure system characterized by mixed-layer capes around 1000 j/kg. Southerly surface winds transported rich low-level moisture north of the Ohio River, with dew points in the mid 60's. Areas of partial sunshine immediately preceding the convection bolstered instability. The low level wind shear was very strong, with 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity at or above 500. Strong southerly surface winds ahead of the storms gusted to around 45 mph from Mount Vernon to Carbondale during the midday hours.