Tornado in Illinois, April 15, 1998

Name: Tornado in Illinois, April 15, 1998
Start: 1998-04-15T18:43
End: 1998-04-15T18:49
Location: Illinois

April 15, 1998 · NWS PAH · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 1
Property damage: $400,000
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.

The radar

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

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Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Jefferson

When: April 15, 6:43 PM CST to 6:49 PM CST
Where: Jefferson County, Cravat to 1 mi NE of Cravat
Rating: F2
Path length: 5 mi
Path width: 250 yd
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $400,000
Coordinates: 38.420, -89.080

Six houses sustained major damage in Cravat. One house was moved about 10 feet off of its foundation with the back portion of the house destroyed. One truck and some farm machinery were tossed 50 feet. Several small barns and outbuildings were destroyed. A truck driver sustained broken ribs when his tractor trailer was lifted up by the tornado. The trailer was lifted up into a vertical position before being set back down and rolling over. Several mobile homes were overturned.

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 1998 Every state in 1998 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Illinois, 1998 Warnings in Illinois, April 1998

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: 5643834.