EF1 tornado, Moro to Staunton, Illinois, March 11, 2026

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.

Rating, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

March 11, 2026

Touchdown

4:08 AM CDT (09:08 UTC)

Path length

1.6 miles (2.6 km)

Path width

10 yards (9 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Madison and Macoupin counties

Touchdown point

38.985, -89.752

Lift-off point

39.003, -89.732

Highest wind the damage implies

108 mph

Surveyed by

NWS LSX

Survey last edited

April 7, 2026

Record number

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

15 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 110 mph.

• No other grain silos damaged, also open garage was not damaged.
• Confirmed tornado via radar. TDS clearly evident after the solar farm was hit
• Several power poles leaning on the northeast corner of this solar farm.
• Multiple shipping containers thrown/rolled.

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

During the early morning of March 11th, a QLCS pushed through portions of southern Illinois. The QLCS caused thunderstorm wind damage as it passed and produced 4 tornadoes.

A brief tornado moved through the communities of Moro and Midway, IL early in the morning of March 11, 2026. This tornado produced wind damage indicative of maximum wind speeds of approximately 110 miles per hour. Damage to trees, homes, and grain bins was observed. One injury was also reported.

A brief tornado touched down just west of I-55 in Madison County where it caused power poles to lean askew. The tornado then headed northeast where it caused minor roof damage to a home.

The tornado continued into Macoupin County from Madison County where it uprooted trees along Double Arch Road before dissipating.

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.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:29 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.

Litchfield (3LF), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 88 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:07 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

56 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.