Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2026

EF0 tornado, Marine, Illinois, April 27, 2026

This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Madison County on April 27, 2026, touching down at 1:41 PM CDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody.

Preliminary. This is NWS LSX's damage survey, filed in the Damage Assessment Toolkit. The rating, the path and the casualties are the survey's and can change while it is revised. The Storm Prediction Center compiles the official record of 2026 from these surveys and publishes it in the spring of 2027; this page moves to that tornado's permanent address when it does.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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.

The survey

Rating, as surveyed
EF0, preliminary
Date
April 27, 2026
Touchdown
1:41 PM CDT (18:41 UTC)
Path length
0.3 miles (0.5 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Madison County
Touchdown point
38.759, -89.800
Lift-off point
38.760, -89.795
Highest wind the damage implies
76 mph
Surveyed by
NWS LSX
Survey last edited
April 29, 2026
Record number
None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

The damage survey

4 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LSX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 107 mph.

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

What the Weather Service recorded

Multiple rounds of severe thunderstorms passed through the region for nearly the entirety of April 27th. The afternoon round was expected to be the most volatile, with an environment primed for high-end severe weather reflected by an areawide SPC Moderate Risk. What culminated was widespread large hail, wind damage, and three tornadoes in Illinois.

A very brief tornado touched down IL just east of Illinois Route 4 and just north of Lower Marine Road where it collapsed the overhead doors of a metal building and caused minor roof damage to a double wide manufactured home. The tornado lifted shortly after.

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

The warnings

28 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:13 UTC, 28 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:50 UTC and running to 01:36 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
09:10 UTC15:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchLSX
16:18 UTC02:00 UTCFlood WatchLSX
17:27 UTC18:15 UTCTornado WarningLSX
17:50 UTC01:36 UTCTornado WatchLSX
18:13 UTC19:00 UTCTornado WarningLSX
18:49 UTC19:03 UTCTornado WarningLSX
18:55 UTC19:40 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSX
19:01 UTC19:28 UTCTornado WarningLSX
19:30 UTC19:57 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSX
20:14 UTC21:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSX
20:19 UTC21:00 UTCTornado WarningLSX
20:52 UTC21:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSX
23:28 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSX
23:41 UTC00:13 UTCTornado WarningLSX
00:09 UTC01:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSX
00:12 UTC01:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSX
00:50 UTC01:16 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSX
00:54 UTC05:00 UTCFlood AdvisoryLSX

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 16:50 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 air that afternoon

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.

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 12:00Z

6.7 hours before the tornado, 186 km from the path. April 27, 2026.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2026-04-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -7856, lifted condensation level 1053 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2026-04-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 104 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 25 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7856 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1053 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
104 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
306 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

5.3 hours after it, 186 km from the path. April 28, 2026.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2026-04-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -871, lifted condensation level 1082 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2026-04-28The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -1 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 76 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-871 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1082 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
76 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-57 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:41 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
18:41 UTCTORNADO2 Ssw MarineMadison, ILNWS Damage Survey found that a brief EF0 tornado impacted a farm near IL Highway 4 and Interstate 70.
18:52 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Sw MarineMadison, ILShed damaged.
19:21 UTCHAIL 1Glen CarbonMadison, IL
19:59 UTCFLASH FLOOD2 Nne ElsahJersey, ILCulvert washed out and damaged on Green Acres Rd.
19:59 UTCFLASH FLOOD2 Nne ElsahJersey, ILCulvert washed out and damaged on Green Acres Rd.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

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

The other tornadoes of April 27, 2026

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

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 273:31 AM CDTEF1Leavenworth, KS2.150
April 275:38 AM CDTEF0Johnson, KS0.10
April 275:45 AM CDTEF1Johnson, KS0.10
April 276:52 AM CDTEF2Saline, MO36.5350
April 277:11 AM CDTEF1Chariton, MO24.5300
April 277:29 AM CDTEF0Randolph, MO8.650
April 277:43 AM CDTEF1Monroe, MO1.8400
April 274:44 PM EDTEF1Jackson, IN3.7100
April 276:14 PM CDTEF1Logan, IL14.9400
April 276:32 PM CDTEF1DeWitt, IL6.0400
April 276:41 PM CDTEF1DeWitt, IL14.1500
April 276:42 PM CDTEF1DeWitt, IL0.675
April 276:48 PM CDTUnratedSaint Charles, MO0.610
April 276:55 PM CDTEF1Piatt, IL15.5500
April 277:52 PM CDTEF1Cleburne, AR1.4100
April 277:53 PM CDTEF1Saint Clair, IL9.7350
April 278:02 PM CDTEF0Shannon, MO3.5150
April 278:06 PM CDTEF1Clinton, IL11.7350
April 2710:50 PM EDTEF1Morgan, IN2.7150
April 2710:54 PM EDTEF0Morgan, IN0.850
April 2710:30 PM CDTEF1Stone, AR13.5400
April 2711:56 PM CDTEF0Hopkins, KY3.250
April 2712:08 AM CDTEF1McLean, KY7.0125
April 2712:16 AM CDTEF0Jackson, AR0.650
April 2712:19 AM CDTEF0Ohio, KY1.9150
April 2712:25 AM CDTEF0Dyer, TN1.0100
April 2712:30 AM CDTEF1Ohio, KY1.8110
April 2712:48 AM CDTUnratedPoinsett, AR0.550

What this means

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.

Sources

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.