National Weather Service says a St. Clair County tornado had peak winds of 120 mph

The National Weather Service reports an EF-2 tornado that started in St. Clair County hit an estimated 120 mph in peak winds Friday night while a second twister hit an estimated 109 mph at its peak.

No serious injuries were reported in the tornadoes. One of the tornadoes ended in southern Madison County while the other ended in western Clinton County.

The weather service on Monday night released the following details on the two tornadoes:

▪ The first tornado started at 10:28 p.m. Friday in the northeastern outskirts of O’Fallon. The peak winds reached 109 mph, the path length was 6.8 miles and the path width was 450 yards.

After starting near O’Fallon, it continued northeast before dissipating at 10:33 p.m. near the intersection of Rose Road and Starr Road in far southern Madison County.

Multiple mobile homes in the Parkview community were damaged or destroyed in this tornado, which was rated EF-1.

▪ The second tornado started at 10:33 p.m. near Machine Shop Road west of New Baden and it continued northeast before ending at about 10:38 p.m. near Illinois 160 just south of Trenton in western Clinton County.

This EF-2 tornado had peak winds of 120 mph and the path was 6.3 miles long and 700 yards wide.

“The most significant observed damage was surveyed along Clinton County Line Road, where the roof of a home was almost completely destroyed,” according to the report.

Also, the weather service reports an EF-0 tornado moved from Missouri and hit the north side of Alton and an EF-1 tornado started near Valmeyer in Monroe County and ended near Floraville in St. Clair County. No injuries were reported in these two tornadoes but there were multiple reports of property damage.

The National Weather Service has released a map that shows the paths of the metro-east tornadoes. You can get detailed information about the tornadoes on the agency’s website under the “damage assessment toolkit,” which is an interactive map. Click on the triangles in the storm paths to get more information and photos of the damage.

Here is the Enhanced Fujita Scale the National Weather Service uses to classify wind speeds in tornadoes:

• EF0.....65 to 85 mph
• EF1.....86 to 110 mph
• EF2.....111 to 135 mph
• EF3.....136 to 165 mph
• EF4.....166 to 200 mph
• EF5.....>200 mph

This story was originally published March 18, 2025 at 11:09 AM.