EF0 tornado, Lee County, Illinois, August 21, 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

August 21, 2026

Touchdown

5:55 PM CDT (22:55 UTC)

Lifted

5:56 PM CDT (22:56 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.7 miles (1.1 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Lee County

Touchdown point

41.608, -89.174

Lift-off point

41.598, -89.176

Highest wind the damage implies

70 mph

Surveyed by

NWS LOT

The office's name for it

Henkel

Survey last edited

August 24, 2026

Record number

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

Based on drone footage provided by the Lee County Sheriff's office, the tornado began in an open field east of the intersection of Henkel Road and US Highway 52 and caused damage to crops. The tornado continued generally southward and damaged several roofs of buildings near the intersection of Cedar Grove Road and US Highway 52 before causing additional crop damage behind a farmstead. The tornado appeared to lift in an open field to the north of Pike Creek west of US Highway 52. The tornado was captured by video and photo by several storm chasers in the area. Thank you to both the Lee County Emergency Management Agency and Lee County Sheriff's Office for their help in completing the survey for this tornado.

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

7 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LOT, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EFU. The highest wind the damage implies is 70 mph.

• A portion of the metal roofing removed from a building. A hay conveyer was tipped over on the north side of the property, as well.
• Swirl marks evident in crops via drone footage
• Approximate start point based on beginning of swirl marks in field.
• Damage to the outer edges of metal roof structure

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:58 UTC and running to 02:38 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.

Peru (VYS), 28 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 91 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:56 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

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

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.