National Weather Service confirms tornados in St. Clair, Clinton, Monroe counties
An EF-1 tornado touched down in St. Clair County, just west of New Athens, on Sunday, the National Weather Service confirmed.
Storm surveyors were in the area early Monday to assess damage, which was mostly limited to tree branches, roofs and other structural damage, according to a release on the weather service’s St. Louis office website.
The release said the tornado touched down at about 5:47 p.m. and remained on the ground for about a minute, with wind speeds around 90 mph.
“The pattern of damage determines if it was a tornado, not how much damage was caused,” the National Weather Service release said. “We conduct surveys to find out exactly what happened. This helps us to improve our warnings for the future. This is also important for historical reference.”
It was the second tornado confirmed in the area in a week. The weather service also confirmed an EF-1 tornado with winds of 94 mph in a rural area between New Athens and St. Libory on March 10. The storm tracked about 2.6 miles and was 300 yards wide.
Monday afternoon, storm surveyers confirmed a second tornado in the metro-east from the storms that blew through Monday. An EF-0, with winds of 85 mph, touched down briefly in a rural area of Monroe County at about 5:35 p.m.
The tornado touched down north of Ames in Monroe County before crossing the Randolph County line northwest of Ruma, the weather service confirmed. It ended at the Kaskaskia River at 5:43 p.m. after damaging some trees and an outbuilding.
Finally, Monday evening, the weather service storm surveyors confirmed that a third metro-east tornado touched down in Clinton County.
A “brief, weak EF-1 tornado” with peak winds of 90mph touched down at 6:29 p.m. north of US 50 and east of Carlyle Lake. The tornado did damage mainly to trees and outbuildings before lifting two minutes later just west of the Marion County, the National Weater Service said in a release.
No injuries were reported from any of the tornados.
This story was originally published March 16, 2026 at 1:25 PM.