EF1 tornado, Greenbush to Avon, Illinois, March 14, 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

March 14, 2024

Touchdown

4:36 AM CDT (09:36 UTC)

Lifted

4:37 AM CDT (09:37 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

1.1 miles (1.7 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Warren and Fulton counties

Touchdown point

40.686, -90.463

Lift-off point

40.687, -90.443

Record number

2403140336-01

6 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DVN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

• Large tree branches broken
• Trees uprooted, trees snapped, machine shed destroyed,
• Grain bins damaged, machine shed destroyed, several outbuilding destroyed, power poles damaged.
• Shingles damaged and tree damage

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

Widespread severe weather was seen overnight from March 13 into 14 across southeast Iowa, northeast Missouri, and western Illinois. Several severe wind and hail reports were received, along with an EF1 tornado in Warren County.

A nearly stationary frontal boundary extending from northern Indiana to northern Missouri triggered several bands of thunderstorms across west-central Illinois during the pre-dawn hours of March 14th. One of the storms produced an EF-1 tornado in eastern Warren County that crossed into far northwestern Fulton County north of Avon before dissipating. No injuries were reported.

A brief tornado developed early Thursday morning, just northwest of Avon in Warren County Illinois. The tornado caused significant damage at two farmsteads, which included destroyed outbuildings and machine sheds, damaged grain bins, uprooted trees, and snapped power poles. The tornado was on the ground for about one mile, and dissipated just into Fulton County IL, east of North Twin Bridge Road. Maximum winds were estimated around 110 mph, and the tornado was rated a high-end EF1. There were no reports of any injuries.

This tornado initially touched down in the National Weather Service Quad Cities County Warning Area (CWA) in eastern Warren County, then crossed into far northwestern Fulton County about 2 miles northwest of Avon at 4:36 AM CDT. It broke a few large tree branches in Fulton County before quickly dissipating at 4:37 AM CDT.

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 05:04 UTC and running to 10:07 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 0.02 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.

Macomb Municipal (MQB), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 103 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:37 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

24 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.