Tornado in Illinois, April 19, 1996

Name: Tornado in Illinois, April 19, 1996
Start: 1996-04-19T16:12
End: 1996-04-19T16:16
Location: Illinois

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

5 miles north northwest of Paris, near Cherry Point Road and W200. The tornado destroyed a machine shed at this location.

Where it happened

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
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 ILX wrote it up.

A tornado touched down 1.5 miles north northwest of Paris, near Cherry Point Road and W200. The tornado destroyed a machine shed at this location. The tornado then lifted briefly and touched back down at the intersection of Steidle Road and Tucker Beach Road where it damaged a three car garage. Then it continued to travel to the east northeast where it damaged another machine shed, blew down numerous trees, and damaged a baseball field. One of the light poles at the baseball field was ripped out of the ground and thrown across a nearby road. Also, the roof of one dugout was blown apart. At Twin Lakes Park, several benches, trees, and a small shed were damaged. It then travelled across the lake and flipped a boat lift upside down and blew down more trees before lifting and dissipating. No one was injured and no damage estimate was available.

The radar

The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 124 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:13 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Edgar

When: April 19, 4:12 PM CST to 4:16 PM CST
Where: Edgar County, Paris to 2 mi N of Paris
Rating: F0
Path length: 1 mi
Path width: 220 yd
Coordinates: 39.630, -87.720

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: 5543730.