EF1 tornado, Arthur to Villa Grove, Illinois, March 15, 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 15, 2026

Touchdown

7:06 PM CDT (00:06 UTC)

Lifted

7:16 PM CDT (00:16 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

11.4 miles (18.3 km)

Path width

70 yards (64 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Douglas County

Touchdown point

39.780, -88.325

Lift-off point

39.877, -88.153

Highest wind the damage implies

98 mph

Surveyed by

NWS ILX

The office's name for it

Tuscola-Villa Grove Tornado

Survey last edited

March 17, 2026

Record number

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

The tornado touched down about 2 miles southwest of Tuscola where it snapped off several large trees along N County Rd 800 E. It moved northeast into Tuscola where it caused more tree and fencing damage. It continued on to Villa Grove with minor tree damage along the way. It snapped off multiple power poles on the north side of Villa Grove along with some tree damage before it dissipated just north of town.

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

22 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ILX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 98 mph.

• Power pole snapped behind us
• Debris was thrown into the field
• Debris in field but not sure of the source farther west
• Car port was blown 100 feet into road

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

A strong low pressure system (987 mb) moved across Illinois during the afternoon of Sunday, March 15, 2026. The environment was characterized by high shear and weak instability. A line of storms swept across the state, producing scattered wind damage and eight tornadoes within the NWS Central Illinois coverage area. The tornadoes occurred southeast of the I-72 corridor and all were rated EF-0 or EF-1. No injuries occurred.

The tornado began about two miles southeast of Arthur near N County Road 100 E, producing damage to trees and outbuildings and strewing the debris across fields to the northeast. The tornado turned east, producing additional tree and outbuilding damage along E County Road 300 N. The tornado then turned sharply north, producing similar tree and outbuilding damage before dissipating prior to reaching Highway 133. The tornado was rated EF-0, and was in progress for three minutes.

This tornado began about 4.5 miles southwest of Tuscola along County Road 750 N. It continued east near that road, snapping numerous large pine trees and damage an outbuilding before dissipating shortly after crossing N County Road 800 E. The tornado was rated EF-1 and was in progress for three minutes.

This tornado began about two miles southwest of Tuscola where it snapped several large trees along N County Road 800 E. The tornado tracked northeast through Tuscola, producing more tree and fence damage, then continued towards Villa Grove, producing additional tree damage in rural parts of Douglas County. The tornado snapped multiple power poles on the north side of Villa Grove, along with additional tree damage, before dissipating north of Villa Grove prior to reaching the Champaign-Douglas county line. The tornado was rated EF-1, had a path length of over 11 miles, and was in progress for 10 minutes.

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

23 minutes of warning. NWS ILX issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:43 UTC, 23 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:43 UTC and running to 01:17 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 0.05 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.

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.

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 100 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

43 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.