F0 tornado, Beecher To to Beecher, Illinois, April 26, 1994

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. F3158 to 206 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. F5261 to 318 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

F0

Date

April 26, 1994

Touchdown

9:40 PM CDT (02:40 UTC)

Path length

3.0 miles (4.8 km)

Path width

20 yards (18 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$5,000 to $50,000

County

Will County

Touchdown point

41.320, -87.580

Lift-off point

41.350, -87.520

Record number

240

Two small tornadoes touched down producing parallel paths about 0.50 to 1 mile apart. The first tornado touched down southeast of Beecher damaging a house roof, grain bins and other farm buildings. A few trees and limbs were also damaged and one power pole was pushed partly over. The tornado lifted just west of the Indiana state line. Another tornado touched down about 0.50 mile northwest of where the first tornado lifted in eastern Will County. It crossed the state line into Lake County Indiana 5 miles east of Beecher. On the Illinois side the tornado blew down tree limbs and knocked down an antenna. One house had its roof taken off at the state line. On the Indiana side, several farm buildings were damaged and a row of pine trees was uprooted at another farm.

Two small tornadoes touched down producing parallel paths about 0.50 to 1 mile apart. The first tornado touched down southeast of Beecher damaging a house roof, grain bins and other farm buildings. A few trees and limbs were also damaged and one power pole was pushed partly over. The tornado lifted just west of the Indiana state line. Another tornado touched down about 0.50 mile northwest of where the first tornado lifted in eastern Will County. It crossed the state line into Lake County Indiana 5 miles east of Beecher. On the Illinois side the tornado blew down tree limbs and knocked down an antenna. One house had its roof taken off at the state line. On the Indiana side, several farm buildings were damaged and a row of pine trees was uprooted at another farm.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:20 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1994 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

65 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 66 of them

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.