EF1 tornado, West Pt to St Mary, 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

6:55 PM CDT (23:55 UTC)

Lifted

7:03 PM CDT (00:03 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

5.7 miles (9.1 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Hancock County

Touchdown point

40.272, -91.160

Lift-off point

40.322, -91.078

Highest wind the damage implies

110 mph

Surveyed by

NWS DVN

The office's name for it

Denver Tornado

Survey last edited

April 21, 2026

Record number

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

A high-end EF1 tornado developed southwest of Denver IL and tracked through town. Through the path of the tornado, there were dozens of utility poles damaged. When factoring in the rear flank downdraft (RFD), over 50 poles were broken or bent. Many trees were snapped, some in Denver with high concentration. Some structural damage was also seen, largely to facades, windows, and roofs in Denver.

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

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.

A high-end EF1 tornado developed southwest of Denver IL and tracked through town. Through the path of the tornado, there were dozens of utility poles damaged. When factoring in the rear flank downdraft (RFD), over 50 poles were broken or bent. Many trees were snapped, some in Denver with high concentration. Some structural damage was also seen, largely to facades, windows, and roofs in Denver.

An EF-1 tornado starting in Hancock County tracked east-southeast before turning east through western McDonough County. It tracked just north of Colmar. Along the path was concentrated tree snapping, many at the base, and some uprooted. Structural damage was noted at several outbuildings, including one destroyed. Several power poles were snapped or heavily leaning on the nearby railroad track.

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 23:25 UTC, 30 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:40 UTC and running to 01:27 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 19:53 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.

Keokuk Municipal (EOK), 32 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 152 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:52 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

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

All 88 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.