Tornado in Illinois, April 19, 1996

Name: Tornado in Illinois, April 19, 1996
Start: 1996-04-19T20:30
End: 1996-04-19T20:33
Location: Illinois

April 19, 1996 · NWS PAH · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The short-lived tornado caused extensive damage to aircraft hangers and aircraft at the Carmi airport. Ten hangars were destroyed, along with eight small planes and an automobile.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $1.0 million
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS PAH wrote it up.

The short-lived tornado caused extensive damage to aircraft hangers and aircraft at the Carmi airport. Ten hangars were destroyed, along with eight small planes and an automobile. The windows were blown out of a church half a mile northeast of the airport, and one of its walls was damaged. Metal debris from the airport littered the church property.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, White

When: April 19, 8:30 PM CST to 8:33 PM CST
Where: White County, Carmi Muni Arpt to 1 mi NE of Carmi Muni Arpt
Rating: F1
Path length: 1 mi
Path width: 100 yd
Property damage: $1.0 million
Coordinates: 38.100, -88.170

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Illinois in 1996 Every state in 1996 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Illinois, 1996 Warnings in Illinois, April 1996

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5543196.