By Greg Halbleib
LINCOLN – Saturday’s stretch of tornadoes set a record for December.
The National Weather Service in Lincoln reports 26 tornadoes touched down in Illinois on Saturday. The previous record for a single December day was 21 in 1957. The 26-tornado outbreak on Saturday is also the third largest during any month in the state.
The Lincoln office reports four tornadoes touched down in McLean County. An EF-1 was on the ground south-southwest of LeRoy just after 7 p.m. for about two minutes and one mile with minor damage reported to a house roof and outbuilding from 90 mile-per-hour winds.
A stronger EF-2 tornado with 114 mile-per-hour winds touched down about 10 minutes later near Moraine View State Park, tearing most of the roof from a house and destroying an attached garage while damaging an outbuilding.
An EF-0 tornado reaching 85 miles per hour briefly touched down southwest of Ellsworth, damaging a large outbuilding.
The final tornado developed about 20 minutes later at about 7:40 p.m. three miles west of Colfax. The EF-1 tornado, with 95 mile-per-hour winds, destroyed an outbuilding during its brief two-minute path of six-tenths of a mile.
No injuries or deaths were reported in the McLean County tornadoes.
Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].
