EF1 tornado, Lynnville to Prentice, Illinois, June 18, 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

June 18, 2025

Touchdown

12:02 PM CDT (17:02 UTC)

Lifted

12:10 PM CDT (17:10 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

3.9 miles (6.2 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Morgan County

Touchdown point

39.735, -90.273

Lift-off point

39.782, -90.244

Record number

2506181102-01

89 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ILX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EFU. The highest wind the damage implies is 125 mph.

• Debris from farm across the street.
• Tornado on the ground in corn field.
• Several large tree branches broken from tops of trees
• Metal pieces from power building thrown to the northeast

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

A mesoscale convective vortex, or MCV, moved into central Illinois late on the morning of Wednesday, June 18th. Moderate instability developed ahead of this feature, and as scattered storms formed they quickly obtained rotation due to shear from the MCV. A total of 14 tornadoes occurred within the NWS Central Illinois county warning area, mainly west of I-55. One minor injury occurred when winds associated with a tornado tossed a woman against her home in Morgan County. Across eastern Illinois, a line of storms developed during the afternoon, mainly producing wind damage before shifting east into Indiana. A wake low developed after the MCV passed, resulting in a short period of non-thunderstorm wind gusts, generally between 45 and 55 mph. The highest non-thunderstorm wind gust associated with the wake low was 58 mph.

The tornado began near the intersection of US-67 and Old Airport Road and tracked northeast for a little over four miles. It crossed I-72 about three quarters of a mile east of exit 60. Damage from this tornado was mainly confined to tree branches along its path, but it produced minor roof damage to a farm outbuilding along south Finch Road and destroyed an open-air farm outbuilding along Massey View Road. The tornado ended just north of the Diamond Grove Cemetery.

This tornado began in Scott County, between Old Route 36 and Walnut Creek, approximately a quarter mile west of the Scott-Morgan county line and 1.5 miles west of Lynnville in Morgan County. The tornado track northeast, crossing into Morgan County just south of Old Route 36. The tornado broke a few power poles along Old Route 36 and resulted in shingle and fascia damage to a residence. The tornado continued northeast through a field for approximately 0.4 miles before lifting.

A tornado began near State Highway 104, between Lafayette Avenue and Westwinds Drive. It tracked northeast for 3.6 miles and was on the ground for eight minutes, with the most prolific damage being rated EF-1. The tornado damaged numerous trees, a power company outbuilding, and caused roofing damage to multiple residences on the northwest side of Jacksonville. It then struck an outdoor sports complex, causing substantial damage to the middle portion of an outbuilding, shredding outdoor baseball netting, and strewing sheet metal and other debris to the northeast through the fields. The tornado continued through open fields for several miles before producing additional damage to trees, outbuildings, and residences along Baldwin and Sandusky Roads, immediately southwest of the Jacksonville Airport. It continued northeast through the northwest corner of the Jacksonville Airport property before damaging some trees along Zimmer Road and lifting.

A tornado began approximately 2.5 miles north-northeast of the northern edge of Jacksonville, producing damage to trees and a camper at a residence near the intersection of Woodlawn Lakes Road and east Woodlawn Lane. From there, it tracked generally to the northeast for over 6.7 miles over the course of 12 minutes. The next notable area of damage occurred along Substation Road, as well as to a property along Sorrill Road north of the intersection of Substation and Sorrill Roads. On Substation Road, wooden power poles were snapped. At the Sorrill Road property, numerous outbuildings were completely destroyed, uplift of roofing occurred on a house, and heavy farm equipment was displaced or mangled. This area was assigned a damage rating of EF-2. The tornado continued northeast for several more miles, crossing Benson Road near Indiana Creek where it damaged trees. The tornado passed about 0.9 miles east of Literberry and continued northeast, flattening corn in the fields before lifting east of Gray Road just to the south of the Morgan-Cass county line.

Sentinel satellite data indicated a tornado began west of Highway 123 and north of Old Route 36. It crossed the highway at Kern Road and widened to about 50 yards as it continued northeast through farm fields. The tornado damaged a farm outbuilding and dented two grain silos at the intersection of Hog Barn Road and Buelah Road before continuing northeast through additional farm fields. A woman suffered a dislocated shoulder when winds associated with the tornado tossed her against her house. It damaged a few hardwood trees, then dissipated just north of Donnan Lane near the Morgan-Sangamon county line. The tornado was rated EF-1.

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

15 minutes of warning. NWS ILX issued a tornado warning for this county at 16:47 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 17:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 14:46 UTC and running to 18:35 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. The outlook in force was issued at 16:19 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.

Jacksonville (IJX), 3 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 90 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:02 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

29 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.