Weather Service confirms 7 tornado touchdowns on Tuesday in Central Illinois

University of Illinois atmospheric scientist professor Jeff Frame took this picture of a tornado in Maroa on January 3, 2023.

URBANA – The National Weather Service confirms there were seven tornado touchdowns in Central Illinois on Tuesday.

A tornado that occurred 3.5 miles southwest of Maroa touched down again just west of the intersection of US-51 and Washington St in Maroa. It completely destroyed a barn and tossed the remains of a grain bin across the highway. A fence was also destroyed just east of US-51 near the end of N. Sycamore St. The tornado dissipated just southwest of an RV dealership. (National Weather Service photo)

Meteorologists say there were three touchdowns in Macon County, two more in Sangamon County, one in Logan County, and one southeast of Gibson City in Ford County.

After surveying all of the damage sites, it was determined that a tornado with peak winds of 110 miles per hour damaged a barn and tossed the remains of a grain bin across US-51 southwest of Maroa.

A different tornado with 90-mile-per-hour winds damaged a building in Decatur.

No one was injured in the storm.

Reginald Hardwick

Reginald Hardwick is the News & Public Affairs Director at Illinois Public Media. He oversees daily newscasts and online stories. He also manages The 21st Show, a live, weekday talk show that airs on six NPR stations throughout Illinois. He is the executive producer of IPM's annual environmental TV special "State of Change." And he is the co-creator of Illinois Soul, IPM's Black-focused audio service that launched in February 2024. Before arriving at IPM in 2019, he served as News Director at WKAR in East Lansing and spent 17 years as a TV news producer and manager at KXAS, the NBC-owned station in Dallas/Fort Worth. Reginald is the recipient of three Edward R. Murrow regional awards, seven regional Emmy awards, and multiple honors from the National Association of Black Journalists. Born in Vietnam, Reginald grew up in Colorado and is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado. Email: rh14@illinois.edu Twitter: @RNewsIPM