EF1 tornado, Cherry to Arlington, Illinois, April 17, 2026

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, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

April 17, 2026

Touchdown

8:14 PM CDT (01:14 UTC)

Lifted

8:32 PM CDT (01:32 UTC)

On the ground

18 minutes

Path length

17.6 miles (28.3 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Bureau and LaSalle counties

Touchdown point

41.465, -89.205

Lift-off point

41.625, -88.950

Highest wind the damage implies

95 mph

Surveyed by

NWS DVN and NWS LOT

The office's name for it

Mendota

Survey last edited

April 24, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

The tornado appeared to start just south of County Road 2200 N in Bureau County, where a barn structure sustained roofing damage. The tornado then moved northeastward into LaSalle County, producing damage to trees and farm outbuildings. Several wooden power poles were damaged just southeast of Mendota before a semi truck was blown over on I-39 as the tornado continued northeastward. The tornado then passed near Meriden, causing additional damage to trees and farm outbuildings before dissipating in an open field northwest of Earlville.

Written by NWS DVN and NWS LOT in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

29 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DVN and NWS LOT, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 95 mph.

• Multiple semis toppled at MM71 on I-39.
• Some sheet metal debris scattered in the open field
• Also some large tree branches down, and some small metal debris debris around in the fields
• Also, some small hardwood branches down.

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

Numerous severe storms tracked across eastern IA, northwest IL, and northeast MO during the afternoon and evening of April 17. Widespread wind gusts between 60-80 mph (isolated 80-100 mph), large hail up to teacup size, and several tornadoes were reported. ||The most significant damage occurred in Lena, IL where many homes and outbuildings were damaged, trees uprooted, and power lines downed by an EF2 tornado. Very strong straight-line winds also were documented in parts of the area.

The EF1 tornado with winds up to 95 mph appeared to start just south of County Road 2200 N in Bureau County, where a barn structure sustained roofing damage. The tornado then moved northeastward into LaSalle County, producing damage to trees and farm outbuildings. Several wooden power poles were damaged just southeast of Mendota before a semi truck was blown over on I-39 as the tornado continued northeastward. The tornado then passed near Meriden, causing additional damage to trees and farm outbuildings before dissipating in an open field northwest of Earlville.

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

30 minutes of warning. NWS DVN issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:44 UTC, 30 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:40 UTC and running to 02:00 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:59 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.

Peru (VYS), 22 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 83 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:12 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 2026 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

88 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

All 89 of them

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.