Corn Flattened By Thunderstorm Downburst Winds

Late-summer storms brought severe weather to the Midwest August 15-17 with corridors of wind damage, flash flooding, big hail, and even a few reported tornadoes.

A severe thunderstorm walked the Champaign / Vermilion County line in east-central Illinois between 5-7 PM on August 16th with a swath of wind damage reported near Homer, IL in southeast Champaign County. Several residents also shared photos that looked like a likely tornado northeast of Homer.

I wasn't in chase mode on August 16th but after hearing about all the damage decided to bring my drone out the next day. I found a surprising amount of wind damage north and east of Homer along Homer-Catlin Road (I believe this gets into Vermilion County) with one cornfield essentially completely flattened and many neighboring fields really messed up. To be honest, it was tough to find anything that really looked convincing as far as a tornado track within all that - it all looks pretty east-to-west straight-line downburst to me. Strong downburst winds, for sure!

I'll be curious to see if any of this is able to recover before harvest. It's a bit late in the season to casually say "it'll stand back up!".