Hail, St. Clair
- When
- April 27, 4:41 AM CST
- Where
- St. Clair County, 1.75 mi SW of Belleville
- Measured
- 1 in hail
- Reported by
- Amateur Radio
- Coordinates
- 38.500, -90.000
Multiple rounds of severe thunderstorms passed through the region for nearly the entirety of April 27th. The afternoon round was expected to be the most volatile, with an environment primed for high-end severe weather reflected by an areawide SPC Moderate Risk.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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 episode as NWS LSX wrote it up.
Multiple rounds of severe thunderstorms passed through the region for nearly the entirety of April 27th. The afternoon round was expected to be the most volatile, with an environment primed for high-end severe weather reflected by an areawide SPC Moderate Risk. What culminated was widespread large hail, wind damage, and three tornadoes in Illinois.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS St. Louis, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 27, 12:57 AM CST, 3 hours 44 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Saint Louis MO 157 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - While periods of storms are expected through Monday morning, the most potent thunderstorms will occur this afternoon and evening. - Thunderstorms this afternoon and evening will be capable of damaging wind gusts, large hail, and strong tornadoes. - A period of cool, calm weather is expected mid-week through the weekend. && .SHORT TERM... (Through Tuesday Night) Issued at 155 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026 Storms across southeastern Missouri continue to butt up against an instability gradient draped from north to south across Missouri. The warm air advection feeding these storms will also push greater instability slowly northeastward through this morning, though propagation vectors will favor convection continuing to move east- southeastward generally away from the CWA or into an unfavorable environment. Additionally, the low-level jet refocusing across Kansas will continue to support the downward trend in convection across southeastern Missouri early this morning. Any linger storms over the next couple of hours will be capable mainly of large hail, though there is also a very low damaging wind and tornado threat for storms that remain surface based. Our attention turns to the storms over eastern Kansas that are propagating eastward with the nose of the low-level jet. With the nose of this low-level jet edging into northeastern Missouri later this morning, the focus for these storms will spread into portions of the CWA north of I-70. Vertical thermal profiles suggest that this convection will be elevated, mitigating a threat of damaging wind gusts and/or tornadoes. However, with around 40 kts of effective shear and building MUCAPE, there is a low chance for isolated instances of large hail. How long this convection lingers is uncertain, although guidance trends have been toward a lull in convective activity in the wake of this convection and that associated with a cold front during the late afternoon and evening. Ahead of the front, the warm sector remains capped through much of the afternoon per a majority of deterministic soundings. Although, any remnant outflow or differential heating boundary from early day convection may serve as enough of a forcing mechanism to spawn discrete convection during the afternoon as lift from an approaching shortwave increases over the region. If this convection does form, it will be in an environment characterized by 2,000-2,500 J/kg of SBCAPE and roughly 50 kts of deep-layer shear. This will favor supercells capable of all hazards, with long curved hodographs favoring strong tornadoes, especially if storms are able to latch on to any remnant boundaries across the CWA. Where the environment isn't contaminated from earlier rounds of convection, additional updrafts are expected along the cold front as it enters the area 4-5pm. Forcing from the front paired with lift from the shortwave will lead to numerous updrafts along the front. While this will be occurring within a similar environment detailed prior, the number of updrafts paired with them occurring along the front may lead to destructive interactions and congealing into line segments and/or clusters. While this will tend to limit a strong tornado threat, storms will still be capable of all severe hazards. Convection is expected to depart the CWA with the front by 9-10pm. Even with the FROPA Monday evening, the threat for convection will continue on Tuesday. Guidance consensus has the front stalling just south of the CWA early Tuesday and then buckling northward as a shortwave moves through the Central Plains and into the Midwest through the day. This shortwave will send a subtle surface reflection through the Mid South along the front, with a brief period of warm air advection that will help force elevated convection for areas mainly along and south of I-70. If the front can move northward enough, shear profiles and instability amounts favor supercells capable primarily of large hail across far southeastern Missouri during the afternoon. Waning instability and the front continuing southward will bring an end to rain chances during the evening. Elmore && .LONG TERM... (Tuesday Night through Sunday) Issued at 155 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026 Both deterministic guidance and ensemble clusters keep upper-level troughing slowly moving eastward over the eastern CONUS through the long range forecast period. This will maintain northwesterly flow over the Middle Mississippi Valley through Saturday as several rounds of high pressure pass through the region. As a result, temperatures will run at or below climatological normals into the weekend and mostly dry weather is expected. Elmore && .AVIATION... (For the 06z TAFs through 06z Monday Night) Issued at 1231 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026 Light to moderate rainfall with occasional lightning strikes are expected at the local terminals through the first several hours of the TAF period. Thunderstorms currently over Kansas will continue eastward overnight and through the early morning hours, impacting KCOU, KJEF, and KUIN during the mid morning hours. There is a low chance that these storms also impact KSUS, KSTL, and KCPS too, but confidence is currently greater that they will stay north of these sites. Yet another round of storms is expected during the late afternoon and evening along a cold front. These storms will have the potential to produce hail, erratic strong winds, and tornadoes. They will be moving quickly, and their window of impact be much more narrow than the current forecast, which is wider due to timing uncertainty. Elmore && .LSX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MO...None. IL...None. && WFO LSX
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service St Louis MO 202 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026 ILZ058>060-064-065-069-070-074-079-095>102-MOZ018-019-026-027- 034>036-041-042-047>052-059>065-072>075-084-085-099-280715- Greene IL-Macoupin IL-Montgomery IL-Bond IL-Fayette IL-Clinton IL- Marion IL-Washington IL-Randolph IL-Adams IL-Brown IL-Pike IL- Calhoun IL-Jersey IL-Madison IL-Saint Clair IL-Monroe IL-Knox MO- Lewis MO-Shelby MO-Marion MO-Monroe MO-Ralls MO-Pike MO-Boone MO- Audrain MO-Moniteau MO-Cole MO-Osage MO-Callaway MO-Montgomery MO- Lincoln MO-Gasconade MO-Warren MO-Saint Charles MO-Franklin MO- Saint Louis MO-Saint Louis City MO-Jefferson MO-Crawford MO- Washington MO-Saint Francois MO-Sainte Genevieve MO-Iron MO- Madison MO-Reynolds MO- 202 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of eastern and central Missouri as well as west central and southwest Illinois. .DAY ONE...Today and tonight. Periods of thunderstorms are expected through the day into this evening. Thunderstorms this afternoon and evening will be capable of large hail, damaging wind gusts, and tornadoes. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Tuesday through Sunday. There is a chance of thunderstorms Tuesday. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters are encouraged to report wind damage, hail occurrence and size, and tornado occurrence to NWS St. Louis. Elmore
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service St Louis MO
315 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0308 AM Hail Irondale 37.84N 90.67W
04/27/2026 M1.25 Inch Washington MO Amateur Radio
&&
PfahlerPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service St Louis MO
345 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0336 AM Hail 3 SE Farmington 37.75N 90.39W
04/27/2026 M1.75 Inch St. Francois MO Public
&&
PfahlerPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service St Louis MO
440 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0307 AM Hail Irondale 37.84N 90.67W
04/27/2026 E2.00 Inch Washington MO Public
Time estimated from radar.
&&
DeliaPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service St Louis MO
442 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0333 AM Hail 1 SW Farmington 37.77N 90.44W
04/27/2026 E2.00 Inch St. Francois MO Public
Time estimated from radar.
&&
DeliaPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service St Louis MO
446 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0333 AM Hail Farmington 37.78N 90.43W
04/27/2026 E2.00 Inch St. Francois MO Emergency Mngr
Time estimated from radar.
&&
DeliaPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service St Louis MO
506 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0333 AM Hail Farmington 37.78N 90.42W
04/27/2026 M2.00 Inch St. Francois MO Emergency Mngr
Photo of multiple large hail stones, largest
is measured at 2 inches. Time estimated from
radar.
&&
DeliaThe St Louis radar (KLSX), 63 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 10:41 UTC.
27 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 3 flash flood, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds blew a semi-truck onto the median of I-55.
A very brief tornado touched down IL just east of Illinois Route 4 and just north of Lower Marine Road where it collapsed the overhead doors of a metal building and caused minor roof damage to a double wide manufactured home. The tornado lifted shortly after.
Heavy rain washed out a culvert and a portion of West County Road was washed out.
Thunderstorm winds damaged a shed near Marine.
Heavy rain flooded roads along East 23rd Road outside of Nokomis.
Heavy rain washed out a culvert and damaged Green Acres Road near Elsah.
A trained spotter reported about 6 inches of standing water on Prairie Street.
Thunderstorm winds downed a large portion of a tree onto a home in Hamel. A member of the public estimated 70 mph wind gusts were occurring a few minutes later.
Thunderstorm winds blew a tree onto a home 2 miles southeast of Belleville. Three individuals sustained injuries. Near Swansea and at Scott Air Force Base, winds downed large tree limbs. A report of an estimated 55 mph wind gust was reported in Swansea, but winds were likely stronger based on the damage.
A tornado touched down just east of Shiloh on Route 4 and just north of I-64 where it broke multiple power poles before continuing east-northeast. Along its path it damaged mostly trees, but did collapse the walls of one farm outbuilding and remove several shingles from one home. The tornado then continued into Clinton County.
The tornado that formed in St. Clair county moved into Clinton county where it passed just southeast of Trenton and Sugar Creek. Along Route 160, the tornado destroyed power poles, damaged the roof of one home, and removed about half of the roof of one farm outbuilding. Along Highline Road, the tornado peeled part of the roof from a barn before dissipating.
A tornado developed just southwest of Germantown where it damaged part of the roof of an outbuilding. In Germantown, the tornado produced mostly tree damage. However, it did destroy the roof of one manufactured home and it completely destroyed another. From there, it damaged mostly trees until it reached just south of Beckemeyer. Here, the tornado destroyed one outbuilding and flipped another. The tornado produced more tree damage before dissipating just south of Carlyle.
Thunderstorm winds downed power lines all over Centralia. Power poles and trees sustained damage as well.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2026Every state in 2026This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Illinois, 2026Warnings in Illinois, April 2026
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: 1334003, 1334004, 1333978, 1334011, 1334017, 1334007, 1334014, 1334012, 1334018, 1334019, 1334020, 1334021, 1334023, 1334024, 1334025, 1334026, 1334027, 1334029, 1334030, 1334032, 1334033, 1334035, 1334036, 1334037, 1334038, 1334040, 1334041, 1334042, 1334043, 1334044, 1334045, 1334046, 1334051, 1334048, 1334052, 1334055, 1333992, 1333998, 1334002, 1334057.