EF1 Tornado — Montgomery, Illinois

2021-12-10 · near Donnellson, Montgomery, Illinois

Event narrative

As it moved northeast into Montgomery County 3.2 miles east of Donnellson, it moved over the southern portion of Coffeen Lake. The damage in this area consisted of downed and snapped trees rated EF-1. As the tornado continued northeast, it crossed IL Route 185 where it destroyed an outbuilding, snapped trees, and downed power lines. Near the intersection of School House Avenue and Dads Trail, extensive tree damage was observed. Further northeast, the tornado crossed Fillmore Lake, moving into Fayette County. The tornado was rated EF1 in Montgomery County with a path length of 10.11 miles and a max path width of 300 yards. No injuries or deaths were reported in Montgomery County.

Wider weather episode

Numerous severe thunderstorms formed ahead of an approaching cold front during the late afternoon and evening of Friday December 10th, 2021. Large hail, damaging winds and five tornadoes occurred across central and eastern Missouri as well as south central Illinois. Unfortunately two of the tornadoes were very strong (rated EF-3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale) and responsible for 7 fatalities (one near Defiance, Missouri and six at an Amazon Facility near Edwardsville, Illinois). The Defiance, MO tornado tracked within one mile of the NWS St. Louis office in the Missouri Research Park near Weldon Spring, MO leading to the staff sheltering while NWS Kansas City provided service backup. This is only the third time in the office's existence that the staff had to shelter. The damage from the Defiance, MO EF3 tornado was estimated at $684,186 and is unknown for the remaining tracks at this time but early estimates are well into the millions due to the damage sustained at the Amazon facility near Edwardsville, IL.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.0277, -89.4130)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 996916. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.