Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2026

Unrated tornado, Vernon to Omega Forbes Arpt, Illinois, June 21, 2026

Name: Unrated tornado, Vernon to Omega Forbes Arpt, Illinois, June 21, 2026
Start: 2026-06-21T21:22:00.000Z
End: 2026-06-21T21:25:00.000Z
Location: Vernon to Omega Forbes Arpt, Illinois

From Vernon to Omega Forbes Arpt, this Unrated tornado ran 1.3 miles across Marion County on June 21, 2026, touching down at 4:22 PM CDT. 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.

EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
Unratedthis tornado
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: Unrated, preliminary
Date: June 21, 2026
Touchdown: 4:22 PM CDT (21:22 UTC)
Lifted: 4:25 PM CDT (21:25 UTC)
On the ground: 3 minutes
Path length: 1.3 miles (2.1 km)
Path width: 0 yards (0 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Marion County
Touchdown point: 38.740, -88.865
Lift-off point: 38.750, -88.844
Surveyed by: NWS LSX
Survey last edited: July 14, 2026
Record number: None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

The damage survey

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

Footage from Fox 2 News shows a tornado north of a tree line along the Marion/Fayette county line at this time
Video of a multi-vortex tornado tracking eastward, south of Engel Rd.
Picture provided through social media showed a tornado just south of the treeline to the north of Burks road around 3:50pm. Storm survey did not reveal any damage at this location

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

A convective complex moved through the region during the day on June 21st. Though it remained sub-severe for most of its life, the complex did intensify in south-central Illinois where it produced tornadoes, wind damage, and flash flooding.

A chaser photo taken around 3:50 on hwy 51 shows a tornado directly in front (south) of a tree line along the Fayette/Marion county line. Just to the west of the tornado in that image, an NWS storm survey found minor (EF-0) damage along the county line.

NWS storm survey found very clear tornadic damage (EF-1) east of Kinmundy, with supporting video showing a multi-vortex tornado in that location.

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

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:57 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS St. Louis, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Jun 21, 3:24 PM CDT, 58 minutes earlier. Its key messages:

Damaging winds and tornadoes are possible through this evening across east central and southeast Missouri into southwest Illinois.
Locally heavy rainfall is also possible through early tonight.
Seasonably cool conditions are forecast this work week.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 21, 3:24 PM CDT, 58 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Saint Louis MO
324 PM CDT Sun Jun 21 2026

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Damaging winds and tornadoes are possible through this evening
  across east central and southeast Missouri into southwest Illinois.

- Locally heavy rainfall is also possible through early tonight.

- Seasonably cool conditions are forecast this work week.

&&

.SHORT TERM...  (Through Late Tonight)
Issued at 324 PM CDT Sun Jun 21 2026

A remnant MCV is currently in southwest Illinois and moving
east/northeast. There has been a very slow and gradual uptick in
convection out ahead of this feature across southwest and south-
central Illinois as diurnal instability continues to increase.
Low- level shear and helicity remain quite strong, so mini
supercells may be capable of producing tornadoes. This threat will
continue at least over the next few hours as the MCV progress
through south- central Illinois.

Farther southwest, additional showers and thunderstorms are expected
to develop farther southwest along the trailing cold front. Exactly
where and when is not certain, but my best guess would be near the
Missouri-Kansas border where surface convergence is located. At
least scattered storms should develop farther northeast eventually
along the boundary, with storms moving east/southeast in time. How
organized this convection will be is also uncertain as there are a
couple of limiting factors including: 1) weak surface convergence
along the boundary and 2) modest height rises behind the MCV. In
addition, the prior storms have at least helped limit instability
slightly, with MLCAPE values of 1000-1500 J/kg. Effective shear also
decreases behind the MCV, though is still near 30 knots. A mixed
mode of convection seems most likely, with multicellular clusters,
small bowing segments, and transient supercells all possible.
Damaging winds and a tornado or two are possible through late
evening before storms begin to move out to the southeast. Locally
heavy rainfall is also possible given high precipitable water values
(~1.9"). Afternoon/evening storms are however focused farther
southwest. Storms also should be progressive, so overall I think the
flash flood threat is low and likely would be isolated to any areas
that do experience some training.

Gosselin

&&

.LONG TERM...  (Monday through Next Sunday)
Issued at 324 PM CDT Sun Jun 21 2026

(Monday - Monday Night)

Cooler weather along with northerly winds and clouds are
expected on Monday. High temperatures are only expected to reach
into the mid 70s, or about 10 degrees below normal for the date.
Lows Monday night are forecast to drop into the mid 50s to near the
60 degree mark.

(Tuesday - Next Sunday)

Not much has changed with respect to the work week forecast with
broad northwest flow aloft across the Mississippi Valley. There is
high confidence in seasonally cool temperatures with mostly dry
weather expected outside of a cold frontal passage
Wednesday/Wednesday night.

Moderating temperatures are forecast heading into next weekend with
flow aloft becoming more zonal. That means increasing
moisture/instability as well and increasing chances of showers and
thunderstorms.

Gosselin

&&

.AVIATION...  (For the 18z TAFs through 18z Monday Afternoon)
Issued at 1227 PM CDT Sun Jun 21 2026

Showers and thunderstorms are expected to move out of the metro
St. Louis terminals over the next 2 hours. Additional development
is expected later this afternoon, but may be just south of both
central Missouri and St. Louis terminals. The actual cold front
should move through from northwest to southeast through tonight,
with winds veering from the southwest to the northwest and
eventually north/northeast through the period. Low stratus is also
forecast behind this front, with a period of IFR ceilings likely.

Gosselin

&&

.LSX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MO...Flood Watch until 1 AM CDT Monday for Franklin MO-Saint Charles
     MO-Saint Louis City MO-Saint Louis MO.

     Flood Watch through Monday morning for Crawford MO-Iron MO-
     Jefferson MO-Madison MO-Reynolds MO-Saint Francois MO-
     Sainte Genevieve MO-Washington MO.

     Flood Watch until 7 PM CDT this evening for Boone MO-Callaway MO-
     Cole MO-Gasconade MO-Lincoln MO-Moniteau MO-Montgomery MO-
     Osage MO-Warren MO.

IL...Flood Watch until 1 AM CDT Monday for Bond IL-Fayette IL-Greene
     IL-Jersey IL-Macoupin IL-Madison IL-Montgomery IL.

     Flood Watch through Monday morning for Clinton IL-Marion IL-
     Monroe IL-Randolph IL-Saint Clair IL-Washington IL.

     Flood Watch until 7 PM CDT this evening for Calhoun IL.

&&

WFO LSX

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 21, 2:42 PM CDT, 1 hour 40 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service St Louis MO
242 PM CDT Sun Jun 21 2026

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0225 PM     Non-Tstm Wnd Dmg 1 SW Warson Woods       38.60N 90.40W
06/21/2026                   St. Louis          MO   Trained Spotter

            Power lines down near North Woodlawn and
            Manchester Road.

&&

JPG

Local storm report, Jun 21, 3:18 PM CDT, 1 hour 4 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service St Louis MO
318 PM CDT Sun Jun 21 2026

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0225 PM     Non-Tstm Wnd Dmg 1 SW Warson Woods       38.60N 90.40W
06/21/2026                   St. Louis          MO   Trained Spotter

            Corrects previous non-tstm wnd dmg report
            from 1 SW Warson Woods. Power lines down
            near North Woodlawn and Manchester Road.
            Downed lines caught cars in a car dealership
            on fire on Manchester and Woodlawn.

&&

LSJ

Local storm report, Jun 21, 3:59 PM CDT, 23 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service St Louis MO
359 PM CDT Sun Jun 21 2026

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0353 PM     Tornado          3 NE Vernon             38.83N 89.04W
06/21/2026                   Fayette            IL   Trained Spotter

            Report of a tornado touchdown near
            Pittsburgh and Vernon.

&&

LSJ

Local storm report, Jun 21, 4:15 PM CDT, 7 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service St Louis MO
415 PM CDT Sun Jun 21 2026

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0401 PM     Tstm Wnd Dmg     2 NW Saint Paul         38.87N 88.98W
06/21/2026                   Fayette            IL   Trained Spotter

            Multiple trees down, multiple branches
            strewn about, and power lines down along CR
            1900N near N 1300E.

&&

LSJ

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

9.4 hours before the tornado, 158 km from the path. June 21, 2026.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: -96120 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1482 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 35 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 3.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

2.6 hours after it, 158 km from the path. June 22, 2026.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 43 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -35 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 101 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 643 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 58 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 194 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 223 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Salem/Leckrone (SLO), 15 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:19 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2026 tornado in Illinois Every tornado in Illinois since 1950 Warnings in force in Illinois now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 21, 2026

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

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 21	2:21 PM CDT	EF0	Saint Louis, MO	0.5	10
June 21	3:22 PM CDT	EF0	Shelby, IL	1.3	150
June 21	3:30 PM CDT	EF1	Clay, IL	7.4	200
June 21	3:35 PM CDT	Unrated	Tazewell, IL	0.2	0
June 21	3:43 PM CDT	EF1	Cumberland, IL	0.8	75
June 21	3:49 PM CDT	EF0	Fayette, IL	1.2	0
June 21	4:06 PM CDT	EF0	Cumberland, IL	6.4	350
June 21	4:07 PM CDT	EF2	Jasper, IL	3.7	250
June 21	4:15 PM CDT	EF2	Jasper, IL	2.7	300
June 21	4:31 PM CDT	EF1	Marion, IL	2.1	190
June 21	4:36 PM CDT	EF1	Crawford, IL	6.9	600
June 21	4:41 PM CDT	EF1	Crawford, IL	2.0	600
June 21	5:02 PM CDT	EF3	Jefferson, IL	15.3	400	2	5
June 21	6:22 PM EDT	EF1	Sullivan, IN	2.7	425
June 21	5:25 PM CDT	EF1	Lawrence, IL	4.4	300
June 21	5:27 PM CDT	EF0	Fayette, IL	3.4	25
June 21	5:47 PM CDT	EF1	Wayne, IL	1.5	75
June 21	5:53 PM CDT	EF1	Richland, IL	3.2	300
June 21	6:56 PM EDT	EF0	Owen, IN	0.9	25
June 21	7:00 PM EDT	EF0	Knox, IN	0.3	80
June 21	6:37 PM CDT	EF0	Wayne, IL	0.5	75
June 21	7:58 PM EDT	EF0	Martin, IN	2.0	50
June 21	7:02 PM CDT	EF2	Gibson, IN	11.5	300
June 21	7:11 PM CDT	EF1	Wayne, IL	3.8	50
June 21	8:12 PM EDT	EF0	Bartholomew, IN	0.5	85
June 21	7:27 PM CDT	Unrated	Christian, IL	0.1	0
June 21	7:38 PM CDT	EF1	Gibson, IN	1.5	25
June 21	7:52 PM CDT	EF1	Warrick, IN	1.0	50
June 21	7:52 PM CDT	EF0	Warrick, IN	0.3	50
June 21	7:57 PM CDT	EF0	Warrick, IN	1.0	25
June 21	8:00 PM CDT	EF0	Shannon, MO	2.7	200			$5
June 21	8:07 PM CDT	Unrated	Shelby, IL	0.1	20
June 21	8:15 PM CDT	EF1	Spencer, IN	0.3	125
June 21	9:50 PM EDT	EF1	Clark, IN	3.0	150
June 21	8:53 PM CDT	Unrated	White, IL	0.2	25
June 21	9:15 PM CDT	EF1	Warrick, IN	3.0	75		2
June 21	10:53 PM EDT	EF0	Harrison, IN	0.8	100
June 21	10:03 PM CDT	EF0	Spencer, IN	1.0	25
June 21	10:37 PM CDT	EF1	Warrick, IN	0.5	50
June 21	10:39 PM CDT	EF1	Warrick, IN	2.5	150
June 21	11:07 PM CDT	EF0	Breckinridge, KY	0.9	50
June 21	11:14 PM CDT	EF1	Breckinridge, KY	1.1	70
June 21	11:44 PM CDT	EF0	Hancock, KY	3.5	100

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.