The National Weather Service has placed nearly 50 counties across Illinois and northeastern Missouri under Tornado Watch 340, effective until 3 p.m. CDT Wednesday — extending a multiday severe weather outbreak into the central Midwest one day after seven tornado touchdowns were confirmed across Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The watch spans a wide arc through central and western Illinois. In north central Illinois, Bureau, La Salle, Marshall, Putnam and Stark counties are included; Grundy and Livingston counties extend the zone into the northeast. The Peoria metropolitan area — Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford counties — falls within the watch, as does the Springfield corridor, encompassing Sangamon, Logan, Menard, Mason, Cass and Morgan counties. East central Illinois is broadly covered, with Champaign, Vermilion, Ford, Iroquois, Coles, Douglas, Edgar, Macon and Piatt counties among those included. Along Illinois’s western border, Adams, Brown, Pike and Hancock counties are affected. In northeast Missouri, Clark and Scotland counties complete the watch footprint.
Alert text from the National Weather Service names Coal City, Dwight, Fairbury and Gibson City among communities within the zone — a mix that illustrates the watch’s reach across smaller cities and the agricultural stretches between them.
Tuesday’s episode of this outbreak was substantial. The Storm Prediction Center confirmed seven tornado touchdowns across Ohio and Pennsylvania, alongside 310 damaging wind reports and 9 large hail reports logged over 48 hours. Wednesday’s Tornado Watch 340 adds the upper Mississippi Valley and central Illinois plain to the regions on heightened alert, a sign that the large-scale atmospheric pattern driving the outbreak remains in place.
A tornado watch means conditions are favorable for tornado development — it is not a tornado warning indicating confirmed rotation. Residents across the affected area, including those in Peoria and Springfield, should monitor local National Weather Service updates closely and be prepared to move immediately to interior shelter on the lowest floor of a sturdy structure if a tornado warning is issued.
Watch 340 is set to expire at 3 p.m. CDT. No extension had been announced in available alert data as of Wednesday morning. With four separate National Weather Service alert products active across the region, the breadth of the atmospheric setup in place over central Illinois and the Missouri border remains significant through midday.