EF1 tornado, Neilson to Oldtown, 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

4:56 AM CDT (09:56 UTC)

Lifted

5:03 AM CDT (10:03 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

7.6 miles (12.2 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$205,000

Counties

Williamson and Saline counties

Touchdown point

37.623, -88.822

Lift-off point

37.614, -88.684

Record number

2404020356-01

71 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 130 mph.

• Tree is about 300 yards to the north.
• Trees with damage are about 300 yards to the north.
• Window blown out at Lake Egypt Fire Protection District building.

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).

An EF-2 tornado impacted the Lake Of Egypt community in the early morning hours of Tuesday, April 2nd. The tornado began near Highway 148, just west of Interstate 57, damaging limbs on several trees. Roof shingle damage and a snapped tree occurred on Teske Rd with tree trunks snapped on Whitecotton Rd and IL-37. After crossing IL-37 east of Interstate 57, the tornado passed along Lake of Egypt Rd, significantly damaging the roof of a home. The most severe damage occurred near the intersection of Lake of Egypt Rd and Market Rd, where severe roof and structural damage occurred to three businesses. The Lake of Egypt Fire Protection building nearby had one of its windows blown out. Paralleling Lake of Egypt Rd, the tornado did damage to homes and outbuildings before lifting just to the west of Wagon Creek Rd. Hundreds of trees were uprooted, snapped at the base, or suffered damage to large limbs along the path. Peak winds were estimated at 130 mph.

An EF-1 tornado impacted the Stonefort community during the early morning hours of Tuesday, April 2nd. The tornado began just east of Creal Springs along Saltpetre Road. Damage was mainly to trees as the tornado moved parallel to Pleasant Valley Road. The tornado moved directly through the community of Stonefort, causing extensive tree damage. Most damage to buildings was caused by trees falling onto the building. However, a couple of homes had portions of their roofs removed. The tornado continued east into Saline County in the middle of Stonefort. Estimated peak wind gusts for the tornado as a whole and in Williamson County were 110 mph.

This EF-1 tornado began in Williamson County during the early morning hours of Tuesday, April 2nd, crossing over into Saline County in the middle of Stonefort. The tornado continued to produce tree and roof damage in Stonefort, then proceeded eastward along Battleford Rd damaging a few more trees before lifting around a mile east of Stonefort, past the railroad crossing on Brattleford Rd. Estimated peak wind gusts in the Saline County portion of this tornado were 105 mph.

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

7 minutes of warning. NWS PAH issued a tornado warning for this county at 09:49 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 10:15 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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 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.

Marion Regional (MWA), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 61 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:55 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.