EF2 tornado, Tazewell and McLean counties, 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

8:48 PM CDT (01:48 UTC)

Lifted

8:50 PM CDT (01:50 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

2.0 miles (3.2 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$400

Counties

Tazewell and McLean counties

Touchdown point

40.539, -89.275

Lift-off point

40.544, -89.238

Highest wind the damage implies

115 mph

Surveyed by

NWS ILX

The office's name for it

Lilly Tornado

Survey last edited

April 20, 2026

Record number

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

The tornado touched down along Runyon Rd about a half mile west of the Tazewell-McLean County line. It cause extensive damage to that area, snapping off 7 large power poles and causing damage to several outbuildings. One large grain bin was tossed several hundred yards to the east. The tornado progressed into McLean County where it caused primarily tree damage before dissipating just north of Woodruff.

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

153 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ILX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 115 mph.

• Insulation blown to east from building.
• Looks like it split and went two directions.
• Photo sent to NWS Lincoln account shows a possible ground circulation near Deer Creek. Location approximated.
• Debris blown east across street into field.

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

Bloomington/Norm (BMI), 30 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 44 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:50 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2026 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

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

All 90 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.