EF1 tornado, Harrison to Argyle, 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

7:03 PM CDT (00:03 UTC)

Lifted

7:17 PM CDT (00:17 UTC)

On the ground

14 minutes

Path length

11.6 miles (18.6 km)

Path width

350 yards (320 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Winnebago County

Touchdown point

42.419, -89.153

Lift-off point

42.402, -88.941

Highest wind the damage implies

95 mph

Surveyed by

NWS LOT

The office's name for it

Roscoe

Survey last edited

May 14, 2026

Record number

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

An EF-1 tornado began near the intersection of Freeport Road and Bates Road southeast of Harrison, initially downing several tree branches at and near a small cemetery. The tornado produced additional tree damage as it tracked eastward along Roscoe Road before entering the west side of Roscoe and reaching its peak intensity as it tracked through the Hawks Point, Crystal Hills, and Oxford Commons subdivisions. There, multiple homes had portions of their roofs torn off or damaged and had sections of siding and fascia peeled off. A few homes also had their garage doors blown in, leading to parts of their garage walls getting blown out. Numerous trees were also uprooted or damaged in these subdivisions. The tornado then continued eastward, knocking down several power poles along Gleasman Road and damaging a nearby farm outbuilding before crossing the Rock River. East of the Rock River, the tornado continued to cause extensive tree damage. Multiple additional houses sustained roof and fascia damage from the tornado as well. The tornado appeared to dissipate just as it reached the Winnebago-Boone county line. Extensive straight-line wind damage was also observed in close proximity to the tornadic circulation, particularly along its southern flank.

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

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.

An EF-1 tornado began near the intersection of Freeport Road and Bates Road southeast of Harrison, initially downing several tree branches at and near a small cemetery. The tornado produced additional tree damage as it tracked eastward along Roscoe Road before entering the west side of Roscoe and reaching its peak intensity as it tracked through the Hawks Point, Crystal Hills, and Oxford Commons subdivisions. There, multiple homes had portions of their roofs torn off or damaged and had sections of siding and fascia peeled off. A few homes also had their garage doors blown in, leading to parts of their garage walls getting blown out in a few cases. Numerous trees were also uprooted or damaged in these subdivisions. The tornado then continued eastward, knocking down several power poles along Gleasman Road and damaging a nearby farm outbuilding before crossing the Rock River. East of the Rock River, the tornado continued to cause extensive tree damage. Multiple additional houses sustained roof and fascia damage from the tornado as well. The tornado appeared to dissipate just as it reached the Winnebago-Boone County line. Extensive straight-line wind damage was also observed in close proximity to the tornadic circulation, particularly along its southern flank.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:45 UTC and running to 01:56 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.

Janesville/Rock (JVL), 23 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:02 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.