EF0 tornado, Bethany to Lovington, Illinois, March 15, 2026

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   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

EF0, preliminary

Date

March 15, 2026

Touchdown

6:37 PM CDT (23:37 UTC)

Lifted

6:40 PM CDT (23:40 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.2 miles (3.6 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$20

County

Moultrie County

Touchdown point

39.652, -88.793

Lift-off point

39.675, -88.768

Highest wind the damage implies

85 mph

Surveyed by

NWS ILX

The office's name for it

Bethany Tornado

Survey last edited

March 17, 2026

Record number

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

The tornado developed about 2 miles west of Bethany where it uprooted an old tree. It curved to the northeast and caused tree damage as well as destroying an outbuilding along County Rd 225 E before dissipating near Hwy 121.

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

14 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 90 mph.

• Tree leaning over by railroad tracks
• Branches. Snapped to the east
• Power pole snapped behind us

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.

This tornado began about two miles west of Bethany where it uprooted an old tree. The tornado then curved to the northeast, producing tree damage and destroying an outbuilding along County Road 225 E before dissipating near Highway 121. The tornado had a maximum intensity of EF-0 and was in progress for just three minutes.

This tornado began two miles west of Lovington along County Road 700 E and progressed to the northeast. Along its path, the tornado snapped large tree branches and uprooted one tree. It also produced roof damage to a home and outbuilding. Near the end of its path, the tornado snapped a power pole along County Road 2500 N, and it eventually dissipated near Lanton or about three miles north of Lovington. It was rated EF-1 and was in progress for six minutes.

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

22 minutes of warning. NWS ILX issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:15 UTC, 22 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:43 UTC and running to 00:42 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.

Decatur (DEC), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 72 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:37 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.