EF1 tornado, Ridgway to Blairsville, Illinois, April 2, 2024

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

April 2, 2024

Touchdown

5:22 AM CDT (10:22 UTC)

Lifted

5:29 AM CDT (10:29 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

7.4 miles (12.0 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$111,000

Counties

Gallatin and Posey counties

Touchdown point

37.889, -88.214

Lift-off point

37.885, -88.078

Record number

2404020422-03

87 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS PAH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 122 mph.

• Substantial tree damage many pines snapped near base
• Several pine trees snapped off near the base then across the highway several trees snapped
• Two wooden power poles leaning.
• Damage is in tree line about 200 yards east.

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

Early morning, the surface low was located just north of St. Louis, Missouri, lifting to the NNE as it rapidly deepened. For Southern Illinois, early morning effective bulk shear was 60-65 kts, with a very high 20-30 kts of 0-1 km shear, while SRHs near the Ohio River were around 150-200 m2/s2. MLCAPE was 1000 J/kg, and mid-level lapse rates were 6.5 C/km. A 70-90 kt mid-level jet was west of the Quad State. A strong capping inversion suppressed storm activity in the evening, but the strong lift and upper level diffluence won out early morning. Two lines of storms developed after midnight in Southeast Missouri. The first progressed through the I-64 corridor from 0100-0400 CST. The latter was a very potent thunderstorm line racing eastward early morning April 2nd. This line continued throughout the day all the way to West Virginia, being designated a derecho. For Southern Illinois, widespread wind damage occurred with this line, and sections of the line that took a north-south orientation had a much more favorable line-normal component of shear promoting QLCS tornado development. Seven tornadoes originated in Southern Illinois: 2 in Williamson County (EF-2 and EF-1), 1 in Saline County (EF-2), 3 in Gallatin County (all EF-1s), and 1 in White County (EF-2 with the EF-2 damage in Posey County Indiana). Two people suffered laceration injuries due to flying debris with the Saline County tornado. A total of 19 tornadoes were found during this event, the highest single day total for the NWS Paducah forecast area since Halloween 2003 (also 19).

Early morning, the surface low was located just north of St. Louis, Missouri, lifting to the NNE as it rapidly deepened. For Southwest Indiana, early morning effective bulk shear was 65-70 kts, with a very high 25-30 kts of 0-1 km shear, while SRHs were around 150-200 m2/s2. MLCAPE was 1000 J/kg, and mid-level lapse rates were 7 C/km. A 70-90 kt mid-level jet was west of the Quad State. A strong capping inversion suppressed storm activity in the evening, but the strong lift and upper level diffluence won out early morning. Two lines of storms developed after midnight in Southeast Missouri. The first just missed to the north of Gibson County. The latter was a very potent thunderstorm line racing eastward early morning April 2nd. This line continued throughout the day all the way to West Virginia, being designated a derecho. For Southwest Indiana, widespread wind damage occurred with this line, and sections of the line that took a north-south orientation had a much more favorable line-normal component of shear promoting QLCS tornado development. This was the case for Posey, Vanderburgh, and Warrick Counties. Seven tornadoes originated in Southwest Indiana: 2 (both EF-2) in Posey County, 3 in Vanderburgh County (1 EF-2 and 2 EF-1), and 2 in Warrick County (both EF-1). Including county crossovers, there were 4 tornadoes in Posey County, 4 in Vanderburgh County, and 6 in Warrick County. Four tornadoes crossed from Vanderburgh into Warrick County at approximately the same time. There were also 3 microbursts/macrobursts south of the tornado tracks: a microburst in Posey County, a macroburst that progressed from Parkers Settlement in Posey County to Melody Hill in Vanderburgh County, and a microburst south of Boonville in Warrick County. A total of 19 tornadoes were found during this event, the highest single day total for the NWS Paducah forecast area since Halloween 2003 (also 19). Vanderburgh County EMA tallied up at least 42 structures damaged (including 5 with roof damage, 7 houses damaged or destroyed, 7 hours with trees on them, 15 barns or storage structures damaged or destroyed, a gas station overhang blown over, and a radio tower blown over). Additionally, 4 semis or semi-trailers and 4 cars were blown over. Numerous metal power poles were blown over and bent in half along US-41.

A brief EF-1 tornado impacted the west side of Ridgway, IL, during the early morning hours of Tuesday, April 2nd. The tornado began just south of Main Street along St. Joseph Road, where one home suffered minor roof damage and several large tree limbs were downed. Moving northeast, the tornado damaged a grain bin just south of Main Street and collapsed an outbuilding just north of Main Street. The tornado did limited tree damage in the city park before lifting near the intersection of City Park Drive and Murphy Street. Peak winds were estimated at 90 mph.

An EF-1 tornado impacted far northeast Gallatin County, IL during the early morning hours of Tuesday, April 2nd. The tornado began in the Cottonwood community along Noel Road. Here, several large trees were uprooted, one crushing a small brick building. One manufactured home was severely damaged and a nearby outbuilding had a part of its roof removed. Moving eastward the tornado did mainly tree damage as it passed south of the community of New Haven. The tornado crossed the Wabash River into Posey County, IN, just south of the confluence of the Little Wabash and Wabash Rivers. Estimated peak winds for this tornado path as a whole and for Gallatin County were 100 mph.

A brief EF-1 tornado occurred in eastern Gallatin County during the early morning hours of Tuesday, April 2nd. The tornado began about five miles east of Ridgway along Maloney Road. A couple of large farm outbuildings had significant portions of their roofs removed, with debris tossed hundreds of feet. A cattle feed barn was knocked down. One home on Maloney Road suffered shingle damage. After crossing Big Hill Road, the tornado lifted just west of the intersection of Hulda Lake Road and Sand Road. Several trees along the path were uprooted or had large limbs broken. Peak winds were estimated at 95 mph.

An EF-1 (peak of EF-0 for the Posey County portion) tornado that began in far northeast Gallatin County, IL crossed into extreme southwest Posey County, IN during the early morning hours of Tuesday, April 2nd, just south of the confluence of the Little Wabash and Wabash Rivers. The tornado lifted shortly after crossing into Posey County, producing tree damage visible from the Illinois side of the river. Estimated peak winds on the Posey County side of the track were 80 mph.

An EF-2 tornado struck western Posey County, IN, during the early morning hours of April 2nd. This tornado began in far eastern White County, IL, before proceeding to cross the Wabash River into Posey County. The tornado crossed through Harmonie State Park causing significant tree damage. The tornado tracked to the south-southeast, crossing IN-69 near Lynn with several pine trees snapped at the base. Additional tree damage occurred on Harmony Springfield Rd and Springfield Rd, the latter of which also had an outbuilding collapse. The tornado crossed Oliver Rd and Wade Rd, destroying multiple outbuildings and a grain bin while damaging a roof on Oliver Rd. The tornado track shifts northeastward, eventually merging with another tornado west-southwest of the town of Blairsville. In total, hundreds of trees were uprooted or snapped, several outbuildings/sheds were damaged or destroyed, and minor to moderate roof damage occurred to several homes. Estimated peak wind speeds for the tornado as a whole, and in the Posey County segment, are 115 mph.

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

4 minutes of warning. NWS PAH issued a tornado warning for this county at 10:18 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 10:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 07:12 UTC and running to 11:21 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 06:00 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.

Carmi (CUL), 23 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:19 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

68 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 69 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.