EF1 tornado, Rardin, Illinois, March 19, 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

March 19, 2025

Touchdown

4:52 PM CDT (21:52 UTC)

Lifted

4:54 PM CDT (21:54 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

0.7 miles (1.2 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Coles County

Touchdown point

39.608, -88.110

Lift-off point

39.614, -88.099

Record number

2503191552-01

9 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ILX, 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 branches broken. Time estimated from radar.
• Several trees stripped at the top

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

A strong low pressure system tracked towards central Illinois on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 19. Strong gradient winds produced frequent gusts of 40-55 mph across the region, but no damage was noted from these winds. Clusters of thunderstorms developed across the warm sector during the afternoon and continued into the evening, resulting in two tornadoes in the NWS Lincoln County Warning Area, along with numerous reports of wind damage and scattered hail. The tornadoes occurred in Tazewell County (EF-U) and Coles County (EF-1). Thunderstorm winds resulted in one injury in McLean County when a semi-truck was overturned on I-39. Several gustnadoes were reported during this event, as thunderstorm winds kicked up dust across unplanted fields. Additional storms developed along a dry line during the evening, producing sporadic severe wind gusts and small hail.

The tornado began west of the intersection of county roads 1600N and 2000E, resulting in the destruction of a farm outbuilding and tearing siding off a nearby house. The tornado continued northeast, crossing county road 2000E and snapping a few tree trunks before dissipating. The tornado was on the ground for two minutes.

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

4 minutes of warning. NWS ILX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:48 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:19 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:16 UTC and running to 01:07 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:58 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 Lincoln radar (KILX), 121 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:48 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

14 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.