EF2 tornado, Lena to Buena Vista, 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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2, preliminary

Date

April 17, 2026

Touchdown

3:36 PM CDT (20:36 UTC)

Lifted

4:03 PM CDT (21:03 UTC)

On the ground

27 minutes

Path length

12.5 miles (20.2 km)

Path width

1,250 yards (1143 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Stephenson County

Touchdown point

42.355, -89.874

Lift-off point

42.454, -89.677

Highest wind the damage implies

130 mph

Surveyed by

NWS DVN

The office's name for it

Lena Tornado

Survey last edited

May 18, 2026

Record number

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

A high-end EF2, possible multi-vortex, tornado with estimated peak winds around 130 mph started along Highway 20, southwest of Lena IL, and tracked through Lena before lifting just southwest of Orangeville. The tornado caused significant damage to trees along its path, including uprooting and snapping trees. When the tornado begun it immediately caused EF1 damage to trees, gaining strength to an EF2 tornado snapping many power poles southwest of Lena. The tornado turned to the right, into town causing a lot of roof damage and tree damage. A lot of houses had shingle and siding damage. The most significant damage occurred on Grove Street, where three houses lost their entire roof structure. Two of the homes experienced partial exterior wall collapses. Damage in this area is consistent with 130 MPH winds. In Lena, the damage footprint in Lena is approximately 1250 yards wide. As the tornado moved to the northeast, damage to farm structures was noted. Even towards the end of the path, the tornado was causing EF1 damage to trees.

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

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DVN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 120 mph.

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.

A high-end EF2, possible multi-vortex, tornado with estimated peak winds around 130 mph started along Highway 20, southwest of Lena IL, and tracked through Lena before lifting just southwest of Orangeville. The tornado caused significant damage to trees along its path, including uprooting and snapping trees. When the tornado begun it immediately caused EF1 damage to trees, gaining strength to an EF2 tornado snapping many power poles southwest of Lena. The tornado turned to the right, into town causing a lot of roof damage and tree damage. A lot of houses had shingle and siding damage. The most significant damage occurred on Grove Street, where three houses lost their entire roof structure. Two of the homes experienced partial exterior wall collapses. Damage in this area is consistent with 130 MPH winds. In Lena, the damage footprint in Lena is approximately 1250 yards wide. As the tornado moved to the northeast, damage to farm structures was noted. Even towards the end of the path, the tornado was causing EF1 damage to trees.

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

9 minutes of warning. NWS DVN issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:27 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:40 UTC and running to 00:24 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 19:53 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.

Freeport (FEP), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 110 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:38 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.