EF1 Tornado — Jersey, Illinois

2017-04-29 · near Delhi, Jersey, Illinois

Event narrative

A weak tornado developed in east central Jersey County, about two tenths of a mile north of Oak Rest Lane, just west of intersection with Oak Rest Road. It travelled to the northeast, crossing Crystal Lake Road just south of Lards Road. Most of the damage to this point was minimal. As it crossed Oak Rest Road, it caused extensive tree damage with numerous trees uprooted, snapped and twisted. The tornado then moved across a field and caused EF1 damage to a property on Gun Club Road, just west of Stonebrooke Drive. Here at least a dozen mature trees were snapped and twisted. The detached garage was destroyed and the single family home had minor damage including windows broken out of the house. The tornado continued northeast for about half a mile before crossing into Macoupin County, 3 miles north of Brighton.

Wider weather episode

A strong spring storm system brought multiple rounds of thunderstorms and heavy rain to the southeast half of Missouri during the weekend of April 29th-30th. Rainfall totals surpassed nine inches in some locations and this led to flash flooding and historic flooding along some of the tributaries of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Areas along the Meramec River were especially hard hit as new records were set at Steelville, Sullivan, and Eureka. The previous records had just recently been set during the late December flooding of 2015. Two major highways, I-44 and I-55 were shut down for a number of days due to the record river flooding from this event. A few thunderstorms also became severe during the afternoon of April 29th, with two weak tornadoes documented.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.0711, -90.1723)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 692918. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.