Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2026

EF1 tornado, Massac County, Illinois, June 27, 2026

This EF1 tornado ran 1.5 miles across Massac County on June 27, 2026, touching down at 6:14 PM CDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody.

Preliminary. This is NWS PAH's damage survey, filed in the Damage Assessment Toolkit as Brookport, IL. 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 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.

The survey

Rating, as surveyed
EF1, preliminary
Date
June 27, 2026
Touchdown
6:14 PM CDT (23:14 UTC)
Lifted
6:16 PM CDT (23:16 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.5 miles (2.5 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Massac County
Touchdown point
37.134, -88.647
Lift-off point
37.139, -88.620
Highest wind the damage implies
93 mph
Surveyed by
NWS PAH
The office's name for it
Brookport, IL
Survey last edited
June 29, 2026
Record number
None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

What the survey found

An EF-1 tornado touched down 1 mile northwest of Brookport along Strawberry Road. It snapped several tree trunks along with producing some damage to the front awning of one house. It continued east crossing Hwy 45 and snapping one more tree along Pell Road before lifting.

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

The damage survey

7 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS PAH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EFU. The highest wind the damage implies is 93 mph.

  • Tree trunks were pretty rotted, but a clear circulation pattern noticed.
  • This looks to be about the edge of the tornado
  • Brief tornado touched down along the TN River.

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

The warnings

13 minutes of warning. NWS PAH issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:01 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:58 UTC and running to 01:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
17:58 UTC01:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchPAH
17:59 UTC18:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPAH
18:36 UTC18:51 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPAH
22:11 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningPAH
22:24 UTC22:38 UTCTornado WarningPAH
22:34 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningPAH
22:55 UTC00:55 UTCFlood AdvisoryPAH
23:01 UTC23:30 UTCTornado WarningPAH
23:16 UTC00:33 UTCFlash Flood WarningPAH

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 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 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.

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 12:00Z

11.2 hours before the tornado, 213 km from the path. June 27, 2026.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2026-06-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 575 joules per kilogram, CIN -42, lifted condensation level 991 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2026-06-27The 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 152 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 knots.1939Sfc1 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
575 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-42 J/kg
Surface CAPE
655 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
991 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
152 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
174 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
2.2
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 00:00Z

0.8 hours after it, 213 km from the path. June 28, 2026.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2026-06-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1964 joules per kilogram, CIN -6, lifted condensation level 986 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2026-06-28The 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 131 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 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
1964 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6 J/kg
Surface CAPE
4091 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
986 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
131 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
202 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
7.9
0-3 km lapse rate
6.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 14 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:14 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
23:14 UTCFLASH FLOOD1 W Shady GroveMassac, ILFloodwaters east of Brookport surrounded multiple small homes and businesses. A lot of water was present in low-lying areas including over Unionville Road.
23:14 UTCTORNADO1 Nw BrookportMassac, ILAn EF-1 tornado touched down 1 mile northwest of Brookport along Strawberry Road. It snapped several tree trunks along with producing some damage to the front awning of one house. It continued east crossing Hwy 45 and sn
23:20 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Nnw Shady GroveMassac, ILTree blown down on Mount Pleasant 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 June 27, 2026

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

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 272:00 PM CDTEF0Crawford, IL0.530
June 273:22 PM CDTEF0Posey, IN1.650
June 273:36 PM CDTEF0Warrick, IN0.750
June 275:27 PM CDTUnratedLivingston, KY0.275
June 276:28 PM MDTEF1Billings, ND0.20

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.