The National Weather Service confirmed three tornadoes in Central Illinois during a severe weather outbreak Sunday.
The tornadoes stemmed from an unseasonably warm and moist air mass, combined with a strong storm system. The NWS reported:
— An EF-2 tornado (with peak winds of 120 mph) Sunday afternoon, impacting three counties (Christian, Macon, Piatt), but most of the damage occurred in Macon County, about 40 miles south of Bloomington-Normal. This tornado traveled nearly 24 miles. Some of the more significant damage occurred along East Skyline Drive southeast of Decatur, as the tornado removed most of the roofs off eight homes and destruction of a garage that was tossed to the next block.
— An EF-1 tornado (peak winds at 98 mph) in Tazewell County on Sunday morning. A tornado touched down along Allentown Road about 3 miles east of Pekin. It destroyed two outbuildings and snapped off numerous trees along Allentown Road. It also snapped off eight power poles along Springfield Road.
— An EF-1 tornado (peak winds 90 mph) Sunday afternoon on Pontiac’s northwest side, about 35 miles northeast of Bloomington-Normal. This tornado began just south of 4H Park Road on the northwest side of Pontiac and moved northeast across the Motorola and Vermillion Estates subdivisions. There, it caused roofing and siding damage to a number of houses, apartments, and manufactured homes. Two houses had large portions of roofing blown off, leaving the attics exposed.
This same storm system tore the roof off at Prairie Central Junior High School in Forrest, about 40 miles northeast of Bloomington-Normal. The Prairie Central school district said Monday that the gym will be inaccessible for the rest of the school year, although school itself will continue as scheduled. Games and practices are still being rescheduled and reallocated to different spaces throughout the district.
You can see more storm reports on the weather service’s website.
