EF0 tornado, Mc Nulta to Clarence, Illinois, June 11, 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

June 11, 2026

Touchdown

7:06 PM CDT (00:06 UTC)

Lifted

7:16 PM CDT (00:16 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

11.0 miles (17.7 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

McLean and Ford counties

Touchdown point

40.396, -88.480

Lift-off point

40.444, -88.282

Highest wind the damage implies

80 mph

Surveyed by

NWS ILX and NWS LOT

The office's name for it

Harpster - Elliott

Survey last edited

June 15, 2026

Record number

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

This tornado began approximately 3 miles southeast of Saybrook in McLean County, where it downed a few tree branches and peeled back the metal roof of an outbuilding. The tornado crossed into Ford County shortly thereafter, where it initially damaged trees, power lines, and an outbuilding in the unincorporated community of Harpster. The tornado then impacted a campground along E 200N Road 2 miles south of Gibson City, where it rolled over and damaged several campers. Trees and farm outbuildings were also damaged at a farmstead one mile east of the campground. The tornado then tracked east-northeastward for a few more miles, primarily producing tree damage before dissipating approximately one mile south-southwest of Elliott.

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

48 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ILX and NWS LOT, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

• Debris thrown east into field
• Damage in tree line half mile to south
• Large tree branches snapped
• Outbuilding with corner of sheet metal roofing peeled back

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

A strong storm system interacted with a highly unstable and sheared environment to produce a significant severe weather outbreak across central Illinois during the late afternoon and evening of June 11th. Scattered supercell thunderstorms initially developed west of the I-55 corridor along a pre-frontal trough during the afternoon. One of these storms produced an EF-3 tornado that impacted portions of Woodford and Marshall counties and dropped tennis ball-sized hail (2.50 diameter). Additional cells rapidly developed further west across southeastern Iowa into northern Missouri ahead of an advancing cold front. These storms congealed into a line and pushed eastward into central Illinois during the evening. Widespread damaging wind gusts of 60-70mph occurred with the line along and north of the I-72 corridor. After storm surveys were completed, it was discovered an additional 8 tornadoes were embedded within the line...creating pockets of enhanced damage.

Severe thunderstorms moved across northern Illinois during the afternoon and evening of June 11th producing wind damage, localized flooding and several tornadoes.

A tornado touched down 3 miles southeast of Saybrook about a half mile north of the intersection of East 750 North Road and North 4100 East Road at 7:06pm CDT. The tornado snapped a few large tree branches and peeled back the metal roof of an outbuilding before crossing into the National Weather Service Chicago County Warning Area (CWA) in southwestern Ford County just north of the Sangamon River at 7:07pm CDT.

A tornado with estimated peak winds of 80 mph touched down approximately 3 miles southeast of Saybrook in McLean County and crossed into Ford County just west of Route 54. The tornado damaged trees, power lines and an outbuilding in Harpster. The tornado then impacted a campground along E 200N Road, two miles south of Gibson City where it rolled over and damaged several campers. Trees and farm outbuildings were also damaged at a farmstead one mile east of the campground. The tornado then tracked east northeast for a few miles, primarily producing tree damage before ending in a field north of E 300N Road.

A tornado with estimated peak winds of 90 mph touched down in a field northwest of the intersection of N 1800E Road and E 500N Road. Significant damage occurred to a garage and barn just west of N 1800E Road with debris blown into an adjacent field and wooden boards impaled into the ground. The tornado crossed Interstate 57 where two semi trucks were rolled over. Tree damage also occurred in this area. The tornado crossed into Iroquois County just west of Route 45.

A tornado with estimated peak winds of 100 mph touched down in Champaign County and crossed into Ford County just east of County Road 2200. The tornado caused significant damage at a farmstead where the main residence lost part of its roof, an outbuilding was nearly destroyed and a number of trees were snapped. The tornado continued northeast and ended just northeast of N 2280E Road.

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 19:02 UTC and running to 02:00 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.

Rantoul (TIP), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 86 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:06 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

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

All 66 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.