EF0 tornado, Sun River Terrace to Lake Dalecarlia, Illinois, April 17, 2026

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   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

EF0, preliminary

Date

April 17, 2026

Touchdown

10:28 PM CDT (03:28 UTC)

Lifted

10:38 PM CDT (03:38 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

10.3 miles (16.6 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Kankakee and Lake counties

Touchdown point

41.250, -87.536

Lift-off point

41.326, -87.367

Highest wind the damage implies

80 mph

Surveyed by

NWS LOT

The office's name for it

Lowell

Survey last edited

April 25, 2026

Record number

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

The tornado began just west of the Illinois-Indiana border with the first instances of uprooted softwood trees, downed large branches from hardwood trees, and minor structural damage noted near Stateline Rd on either side of the border. As the tornado quickly tracked northeast, it caused additional tree damage on at least one property near US-41. Along the path toward and through Lowell, the tornado blew out sections of a gas station canopy along IN-2 and then a garage wall at a residence just northwest of downtown Lowell. This was in addition to causing further tree and minor structural damage in a defined narrow path. The tornado continued through southern and southeastern sections of Lake Dalecarlia, causing primarily tree damage and minor structural damage due to fallen trees. Based on the ground survey, the tornado likely dissipated prior to reaching IN-55. Finally, just south of the tornado track through portions of Lowell, the survey team documented a fairly narrow corridor of straight-line wind damage.

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

27 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LOT, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 81 mph.

• Several tree large (>6 inch) branches downed, including one on top of a vehicle.
• A softwood tree with the upper half of its trunk snapped off and laying towards the east-northeast. Additional trees with large branches snapped.
• Pictures shared from this property show several large tree branches downed and at least one tree that has been snapped at the trunk.
• Several older appearing power poles were snapped in this area. Based on a lack of any notable tree or structural damage nearby, it appears powerlines may have contributed to failure of one of the poles and then progressive failure of the other poles.

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

A line of severe thunderstorms moved across all of northern Illinois during the evening of April 17th producing several tornadoes and wind damage. Large hail occurred across parts of northwest Illinois and flooding occurred across parts of northeast Illinois.

A line of severe thunderstorms moved across northwest Indiana during the late evening of April 17th producing scattered wind damage and three tornadoes.

A brief EF-0 tornado started near Farr Creek in the small community of Eldridge within unincorporated Momence. Along the path, a combination of scattered tree damage and outbuilding roof damage was noted. As the tornado tracked north of the center of Momence, multiple power poles were downed along IL-1, with additional tree damage noted near 5500N. The tornado appears to have dissipated just northeast of Trimm Creek.

This tornado began just west of the Illinois-Indiana state line near CR 9000N in northeast Kankakee County. The first instances of damage included uprooted softwood trees, downed large branches from hardwood trees, and minor structural damage noted near Stateline Rd on either side of the border. The storm continued northeast into Lake County, Indiana where it caused additional damage to trees and a handful of structures.

This tornado began just west of the Illinois-Indiana state line near CR 9000N in northeast Kankakee County. The first instances of damage included uprooted softwood trees, downed large branches from hardwood trees, and minor structural damage noted near Stateline Rd on either side of the border. As the tornado quickly tracked northeast, it caused additional tree damage on at least one property near US-41. Along the path toward and through Lowell, the tornado blew out sections of a gas station canopy along IN-2 and then a garage wall at a residence just northwest of downtown Lowell. This was in addition to causing further tree and minor structural damage in a defined narrow path. The tornado continued through southern and southeastern sections of Lake Dalecarlia, causing primarily tree damage and minor structural damage due to fallen trees. Based on the ground survey, the tornado likely dissipated prior to reaching IN-55.

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

13 minutes of warning. NWS LOT issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:15 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:32 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:31 UTC and running to 04:00 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 Slight 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.

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 63 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:25 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.