EF0 tornado, Stallings to Marine, Illinois, April 18, 2024

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

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

2. EF186 to 110 mph

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

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

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

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

6. EF5over 200 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

EF0

Date

April 18, 2024

Touchdown

6:13 PM CDT (23:13 UTC)

Lifted

6:16 PM CDT (23:16 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

4.4 miles (7.0 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$10,000

County

Madison County

Touchdown point

38.798, -89.808

Lift-off point

38.804, -89.728

Record number

2404181713-01

20 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LSX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 95 mph.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

During the afternoon and evening of April 18, 2024, discrete supercell thunderstorms developed along a cold front moving through the bi-state area. These storms were initially mainly capable of producing large hail and damaging wind gusts, but become tornadic as additional thunderstorms formed along the front. Due to the additional thunderstorms storms congealed into a QLCS that impacted portions of southwestern Illinois. The QLCS was responsible for several tornadoes and instances of straight line wind damage in this part of the area. Fortunately, no injuries or fatalities were reported with these thunderstorms.

A weak tornado touched down just east of Horseshoe Lake and moved along Arlington Road. The damage was confined to tree limbs before lifting and dissipating near Hanson Drive. Overall, the tornado was rated EF0 with a path length of 0.91 miles and a max path width of 100 yards. No deaths or injuries were reported.

A tornado touched down near Cooper Road, 4.3 miles northeast of Bethalto, damaging the roof on two farm buildings. Then it tracked to the east-northeast crossing Illinois Route 159. In this location, it caused considerable damage to two out buildings as well as trees and fences. It continued to the east northeast for another 2.7 miles before crossing Prairietown Road, causing minor roof damage to a house and major damage to an outbuilding, before lifting and dissipating. Overall, the tornado was rated EF1 (max wind speed of 95 mph) with a path length of 3.14 miles and a max path width of 75 yards. No deaths or injuries were reported.

A tornado touched down along Lower Marine Road, around 3 miles northeast of Troy. It snapped off numerous tree limbs and uprooted several large trees as it tracked northeast along Lower Marine Road. One residence sustained minor roof damage. The tornado lifted and dissipated just west of Silver Creek. Overall, the was rated EF0 (max wind speed of 80 mph) with a path length of 0.33 miles and a max path width of 75 yards. No deaths or injuries were reported.

A tornado touched down on Loos Road, about 1.7 miles northwest of Marine. In this location it blew down several tree limbs, metal canopy off a roof and blew shed doors down. It then tracked to the east northeast crossing Illinois Route 4, then crossed Pocahontas Road. It snapped off a large pine tree before lifting and dissipating on Brothers Lane just west of Buffalo Road. Overall, the was rated EF0 (max wind speed of 74 mph) with a path length of 4.37 miles and a max path width of 100 yards. No deaths or injuries were reported.

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

28 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:45 UTC, 28 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:59 UTC and running to 00:56 UTC.

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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:53 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 St Louis radar (KLSX), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:15 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2024 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.