Tornado in Illinois, April 19, 1996

Name: Tornado in Illinois, April 19, 1996
Start: 1996-04-19T18:00
End: 1996-04-19T18:03
Location: Illinois

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

A small tornado touched down in an apple orchard northwest of Chester. Numerous trees were destroyed along with a couple of utility sheds.

Where it happened

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $500
Crop damage: $5,000
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 LSX wrote it up.

A small tornado touched down in an apple orchard northwest of Chester. Numerous trees were destroyed along with a couple of utility sheds.

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:00 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Randolph

When: April 19, 6:00 PM CST to 6:03 PM CST
Where: Randolph County, Chester to 3 mi NW of Chester
Rating: F0
Path length: 1.5 mi
Path width: 60 yd
Property damage: $500
Crop damage: $5,000
Coordinates: 37.920, -89.870

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: 5545027.