Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2025

EF1 tornado, Gallatin and White counties, Illinois, April 2, 2025

This EF1 tornado ran 9.2 miles across Gallatin and White counties on April 2, 2025, touching down at 8:23 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $170,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
April 2, 2025
Touchdown
8:23 PM CDT (01:23 UTC)
Lifted
8:38 PM CDT (01:38 UTC)
On the ground
15 minutes
Path length
9.2 miles (14.7 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$170,000
Counties
Gallatin and White counties
Touchdown point
37.856, -88.209
Lift-off point
37.959, -88.104
Record number
2504021923-01

The damage survey

24 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS PAH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 105 mph.

  • About 10 sections of solar panels damaged
  • Irrigation pivot turned over

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

The warnings

29 minutes of warning. NWS PAH issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:54 UTC, 29 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:57 UTC and running to 03:54 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
12:00 UTC05:00 UTCWind AdvisoryPAH
18:00 UTC12:00 UTCFlood WatchPAH
19:57 UTC03:54 UTCTornado WatchPAH
23:37 UTC00:15 UTCTornado WarningPAH
00:04 UTC00:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPAH
00:24 UTC00:47 UTCTornado WarningPAH
00:46 UTC01:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPAH
00:54 UTC01:45 UTCTornado WarningPAH
01:18 UTC02:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPAH
01:28 UTC02:12 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPAH

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:55 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 air that afternoon

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.

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 00:00Z

1.4 hours before the tornado, 241 km from the path. April 3, 2025.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2025-04-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1447 joules per kilogram, CIN -13, lifted condensation level 1501 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2025-04-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 202 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 31 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1447 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-13 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2008 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1501 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
202 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
418 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.2
Supercell composite
15.1
0-3 km lapse rate
7.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 54 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:21 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
00:20 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDJunctionGallatin, IL
00:25 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD1 Ne BellmontWabash, IL
00:40 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD2 Sw Bone GapEdwards, IL
00:51 UTCTORNADO2 Ese Creal SpringsWilliamson, ILA brief EF-1 tornado began just east of Creal Springs, IL, along Highway 166 moving east-northeast. Damage was mainly uprooted and snapped trees and downed limbs. However, one home suffered roof damage, and a carport was
01:14 UTCTORNADO4 Nw EqualitySaline, ILA brief EF-1 tornado began just southeast of Eldorado, IL, along Highway 142 at Grayson Lane. Moving northeast, it crossed from Saline County into Gallatin County before ending just north of the Elba community along Zion
01:23 UTCTORNADO5 Ne RidgwayGallatin, ILThis tornado began about 5.6 miles southwest of New Haven and traveled northeast where it caused some shingle and siding damage to a few homes. As it continued northeast and crossed Shawneetown New Haven road, it severel
01:43 UTCFLASH FLOODAlbionEdwards, ILreports of water flowing over road and into buildings.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2025 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 2, 2025

87 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 25:13 AM CDTEF1Osage, OK3.7250$10,000
April 26:37 AM CDTEF1Tulsa, OK10.7600$575,000
April 27:29 AM CDTEF2Vernon, MO6.5200$500,000
April 27:30 AM CDTEF1Vernon, MO16.6200$1.2 million
April 28:34 AM CDTEF2Cooper, MO6.1200$100,000
April 211:00 AM MSTUnratedMaricopa, AZ0.55
April 23:13 PM CDTEF3Crawford, MO21.9200$685,000
April 23:16 PM CDTEF1Howell, MO1.1350$10,000
April 23:40 PM CDTEF0Logan, IL12.730
April 24:21 PM CDTEF0Madison, TN1.9150$50,000
April 25:00 PM CDTEF1Iroquois, IL2.3400
April 25:05 PM CDTEF2Bond, IL22.82001$385,000
April 25:09 PM CDTEF0Iroquois, IL2.2300
April 25:32 PM CDTEF1Ripley, MO1.1125$185,000
April 25:56 PM CDTEF2Randolph, AR24.6500$250,000
April 25:56 PM CDTEF2Arkansas, AR8.3100
April 25:59 PM CDTEF1Poinsett, AR7.5400$50,000
April 26:08 PM CDTEF1Effingham, IL2.5125
April 26:13 PM CDTEF2Wayne, MO8.3175$630,000
April 26:21 PM CDTEF1Arkansas, AR0.950
April 26:23 PM CDTEF1Effingham, IL8.3100
April 26:26 PM CDTEF3Poinsett, AR24.21,5008$4.0 million
April 26:28 PM CDTEF2Craighead, AR14.4700$750,000
April 26:29 PM CDTEF0Cumberland, IL4.0150
April 26:32 PM CDTEF2Stoddard, MO14.7600$20 million
April 26:33 PM CDTEF2Cumberland, IL to IN48.91,200$200,000
April 26:36 PM CDTEF1Butler, MO13.4125$2.0 million
April 26:40 PM CDTEF0Poinsett, AR6.575$20,000
April 26:48 PM CDTEF1Lafayette, AR7.6250$135,000
April 27:52 PM EDTEF1Marshall, IN17.8175$610,000
April 26:56 PM CDTEF1Cape Girardeau, MO to IL8.0150$765,000
April 27:02 PM CDTEF1Clark, IL8.1200
April 27:08 PM CDTEF1Union, IL10.050$35,000
April 27:17 PM CDTEF1Lafayette, AR0.375$50,000
April 28:24 PM EDTEF1Parke, IN10.8120$200,000
April 27:25 PM CDTEF0Union, IL1.125$5,000
April 27:30 PM CDTEF1Scott, MO1.0250$600,000
April 27:35 PM CDTEF0Crittenden, AR3.175$30,000
April 27:35 PM CDTEF2Johnson, IL6.2250$525,000
April 27:46 PM CDTEF1Steuben, IN to MI10.8600$200,000
April 28:49 PM EDTEF1Branch, MI3.7125$50,000
April 27:51 PM CDTEF1Williamson, IL3.375$175,000
April 28:00 PM CDTEF2Carlisle, KY9.7200$180,000
April 29:05 PM EDTEF2Hendricks, IN13.02001$1.2 million
April 28:14 PM CDTEF1Saline, IL5.0300$85,000
April 29:15 PM EDTEF1Hendricks, IN1.5300$200,000
April 28:15 PM CDTEF1Dyer, TN4.7100$1.9 million
April 28:18 PM CDTEF2Ballard, KY18.21,0004$3.2 million
April 29:28 PM EDTEF1Hamilton, IN6.6150$600,000
April 28:35 PM CDTEF1Obion, TN9.3350$325,000
April 29:43 PM EDTEF2Madison, IN to IL, KY2.1250$200,000
April 28:43 PM CDTEF2Livingston, IL to KY12.0150$235,000
April 29:46 PM EDTEF1Madison, IN11.6150$400,000
April 28:51 PM CDTEF2Vanderburgh, IN10.6150$3.4 million
April 28:52 PM CDTEF1Posey, IN1.175$1.2 million
April 29:52 PM EDTEF0Madison, IN4.9100$300,000
April 28:55 PM CDTEF1Vanderburgh, IN17.0230$1.2 million
April 29:57 PM EDTEF2Madison, IN15.2200$3.2 million
April 29:00 PM CDTEF2Weakley, TN6.4350$250,000
April 29:01 PM CDTEF1Vanderburgh, IN4.075$275,000

All 88 of them

What this means

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.

Sources

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