SPC Stats

Path length: 51.5 miles

Width:  10 yards

Fatalities:  0

Injuries:  1

Rating:  F1

County:  McLean, Ford, Iroquois

One of three tornadoes to move through parts of Illinois on March 4, 1961.  It was given a rating of F1. The tornado began its 51.5-mile track near Arrowsmith.  A house was knocked 20 feet off its foundation.  A woman was injured. Six other farmsteads were damaged.  There was heavy damage to several farms at Saybrook.  A 20 block section of Gibson City was hit.  A lumberyard was destroyed. Numerous farms were hit in Cissna Park and to the north of Hoopeston.

Tornado Path

Click Map To Enlarge

SPC coordinates:  Start: 40.45 / -88.63   End:  40.53 / -87.65         

Note:  Exact tornado path may not be straight and/or continuous.

Newspaper Clippings

Discrepancies:

We gathered information for this event from the SPC & NCDC Databases and the March 1961 Storm Data Narrative and found the following differences:

Counties:

  • SPC lists McLean, Ford and Iroquois Counties in the path.  When you plot the official coordinates, all 3 counties are included in the track.
  • NCDC does not have an entry for Iroquois County.
  • The Storm Data Summary does not list any counties.

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    Newspaper clips are embedded via newspapers.com. Please see their terms and conditions.

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