EF1 tornado, White City to Irving, 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

5:29 PM CDT (22:29 UTC)

Lifted

5:36 PM CDT (22:36 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

6.3 miles (10.2 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Macoupin and Montgomery counties

Touchdown point

39.048, -89.788

Lift-off point

39.097, -89.695

Highest wind the damage implies

100 mph

Surveyed by

NWS LSX

The office's name for it

Mount Olive Tornado

Survey last edited

March 17, 2026

Record number

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

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

• Poles were snapped but already replaced
• Lofted into street but cleaned up
• Trunk snapped but not visible

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

During the afternoon and evening of March 15th, a QLCS moved through southern and south-central Illinois. Stronger segments of the QLCS produced wind damage across the region. The QLCS ended up producing 8 tornadoes while it passed through the region.

A tornado touched down just west of the Staunton Reservoir where it damaged trees along Bono Road. The tornado then travelled northeast, causing minor damage to the roofs of a few structures before directly hitting Mount Olive. In Mount Olive, the tornado damaged mostly trees, but the roof of a business was impacted as well. The tornado weakened as it exited town and approached Montgomery County.

The tornado moved into Montgomery County from Macoupin County, where it caused minor damage to a home on W County Line Road. The tornado then took on a near due northerly track as it occluded and caused minor tree damage before it dissipated completely just north of Saint Johns Ave.

A tornado touched down near Niemanville Trail and trekked northeast, producing mostly tree damage in its path. At its strongest the tornado was able to produce minor damage to farm outbuildings and break wooden power poles. The tornado dissipated just east of East 8th Road.

A brief tornado touched down on the Hillsboro Country Club where it produced minor damage to a home. The tornado then travelled northeast where it damaged trees, an outbuilding, and electrical poles. The tornado dissipated just north of White Ave west of Irving.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:33 UTC and running to 23:26 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.

Litchfield (3LF), 12 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), 91 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:31 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.