EF1 tornado in Jasper County, Illinois

A tornado touched down on the northwest side of West Liberty at 12:25 PM CST, then tracked northeastward before lifting 3.4 miles ENE of West Liberty at 12:29 PM CST. Roof and siding damage occurred to 12 homes, while the roof was completely torn off an older one-story house. A semi-truck was overturned and several trees were uprooted. A barn was destroyed and 2 sheds had their roofs torn off about 1 mile ENE of West Liberty before the tornado dissipated.

A powerful low pressure system tracked from the central Rockies toward the southern Great Lakes on November 17th. As the system approached central Illinois, unseasonably warm and humid air was pulled northward into the area, resulting in high temperatures soaring into the 70s. This very unstable airmass coupled with strong jet stream level winds aloft created numerous strong to severe thunderstorms. Many of the storms became supercells, producing damaging long-track tornadoes. A total of 10 tornadoes touched down across central Illinois, including an EF4 tornado that severely impacted the community of Washington in Tazewell County. Three people were killed and 142 others were injured as the storms tracked through the area. Total damage was estimated at 1.06 billion dollars across central Illinois.