LENA, IL Tornado Video from Fri, April 17th

Colin Davis and I observed a large (preliminary) EF-2 tornado that formed south of the community of Lena, IL before moving into town. We'd stopped for gas at the Casey's downtown and noticed the area spinning up to our south. Going northeast out of Lena we observed a large wedge tornado before it wrapped itself in rain. We were able to view the tornado a couple additional times further northeast of Lena in a rain-wrapped cone form.

I'm working on a full Storm Observation VLOG from the April 17th, 2026 event in which we observed three tornadoes in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.

Images of the Lena, IL tornado forming south of town, as a wedge, and then late-stage cone.