EF1 tornado, Madonnaville to Columbia, Illinois, April 20, 2025

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 20, 2025

Touchdown

8:00 PM CDT (01:00 UTC)

Lifted

8:07 PM CDT (01:07 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

7.3 miles (11.8 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$75,000

County

Monroe County

Touchdown point

38.253, -90.218

Lift-off point

38.321, -90.120

Record number

2504201900-01

38 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 100 mph.

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

During the early evening of Sunday, April 20, 2025 (Easter Sunday) a line of severe thunderstorms responsible for multiple tornadoes and wind damage in Missouri crossed into Illinois. The line went on to produce 6 tornadoes spanning west-central, south-central, and southwest Illinois and no shortage of wind damage.

The tornado touched down at 8:00 PM along Koch Road, southeast of Madonnaville, and moved northeast, producing minor damage to a home and an outbuilding along Rock Road. Further to the northeast along LRC Road the tornado overturned an outbuilding and caused tree damage. More tree damage and minor outbuilding roof damage occurred along JJ road as the tornado tracked northeast between Wartburg and Burksville. The tornado moved into southern Waterloo and produced minor roof damage to one of the greenhouses at Waterloo High School before turning to the east and damaging power poles along Highway 156. The power pole damage was the worst damage and winds were estimated as high as 100 mph (EF-1). The tornado dissipated shortly thereafter at 8:07 PM.The tornado was rated EF-1 with a path length of 7.33 miles and a maximum path width of 100 yards.

A brief and weak tornado touched down along EE Road just south of Gilmore Lake and quickly moved northeast before dissipating at the intersection of EE Road and Gilmore Lake Road at 8:13 PM. When the tornado touched down it overturned an outbuilding, and was rated at 99 mph (EF-1) at this point. Tree damage was also recorded. The tornado dissipated shortly thereafter at 8:07 PM.The tornado was rated EF-1 with a path length of 0.35 miles and a maximum path width of 100 yards.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:43 UTC and running to 02:21 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 00:45 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), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:01 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 2025 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

39 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.