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May 6, 2012 Severe Weather Event in Bureau and Putnam Counties

 

The early afternoon of May 6, 2012 proved to be an active one across the National Weather Service (NWS) Quad Cities’ far eastern county warning area (CWA).  Around 12:30 pm, storms started developing just east of the Mississippi and intensified as they moved east into Bureau and Putnam counties.  The first severe thunderstorm warning was issued at 1:37 pm for Bureau County.  These storms continued to develop not only Bureau and Putnam counties, but also affected Henry County.  Golf ball sized hail, 70 mph winds, and a funnel cloud were reported with these storms.

The storms continued to strengthen as they marched off to the east towards the Illinois and Indiana border.  A tornado, later rated as an EF-1 on the Enhanced Fajita scale (EF-scale), touched down near the town of Watseka in east central Illinois.  The NWS office in Chicago, IL performed a storm damage survey following this event, which can be found here.

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