Woodford County EMA

04/27/2026

Here is what we have in store for today. I wanted to wait until this morning's discussion. I had a feeling there would be a major change with what we had coming through this morning. We are under an enhanced risk for sever weather to possibly come in 2 waves. the first wave will be more widespread from around 10a-Noon. A second wave this evening is more scattered and isolated. All hazards are expected with both waves its just more of who will see those severe storms move in. The long track, destructive tornado threat has been talked about the last few days has moved to south of I-72. click through each picture for a summary of the data shown.

04/18/2026

Last night's storms were quite eventful for some. We opened our Emergency Operation Center Around 715pm. Spotters were deployed and the EOC fully staffed well before Woodford County was under a warning of any kind. We have members that watch storms from a distance and are typically paging our staff before warnings are issued for our county. Due to the ground speed of the storms last night, we were deployed just over an hour before our first warning.
The image of the radar screen was at about 820pm. If you zoom in, you can see where our county is in relation to the line of storms and warnings. The red boxes indicate tornado warnings and the blue boxes indicate severe thunderstorm warnings.
At one point in the evening Woodford County had 4 Tornado warnings and 2 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings all active at the same time. We had tornado warnings from the northern border to the southern border for multiple imbedded rotations in the line of storms.
The line of storms entered the county in the southwest and weakened slightly as they moved to the northeast, exiting around the Minonk area. We had spotter reports of funnel clouds and power flashing near I74 with a semi blown over near the 108 WB I74, estimated 60mph wind near Washburn and estimated 60mph wind near Minonk. We also had numerous reports of damage and power lines down resulting in large power outages in the Goodfield and Congerville areas.
This is just a few short paragraphs of what a typical storm operation looks like. Each storm is different but the skills of our team remains the same. Do you have pictures of damage in the county? Comment them below

04/17/2026

**Outdoor warning sirens may sound for straight line winds 70mph or above**
We are in an enhanced risk for severe weather this evening. All hazards are expected. the main risk is 75+mph wind and any tornado that develops has an atmosphere capable of producing EF2 or greater. our hail threat is considerably lower than tornado and wind. at 70mph wind begins to remove shingles and siding. It is this reason that sirens may sound in your area when a tornado warning has not been issued. Have your storm shelter area ready to go and keep at least 2 ways to receive weather warnings.

03/26/2026

Here are some graphics for the severe weather we are expecting this evening. Due to a heavy work load at my full time office, i wont have the time to do a FB Live event prior to the arrival of these storms. Click through each picture to read the captions for a brief synopsis of the data in each graphic. stay tuned to your trusted weather outlet and have multiple ways to receive watches and warnings.

03/10/2026

**MAJOR UPDATE** We are now included in the moderate risk for Tornadoes. Stay tuned for further!

03/10/2026

*OUTDATED*Here is the latest outlook from the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK. there was not much change from my post yesterday except for the Cig rating for tornadoes. Cig is Conditional Intensity Group and we are in Cig2 now for tornadoes. this means that any tornado that does develop could possibly reach EF3 or greater. We are in the Enhanced Risk from 430pm-1130pm so a slight change there as well. Storms will depend on when the Cap breaks. That could happen as early as 2pm. Also worth noting we are still Cig1 for hail, meaning, any hail that does develop could reach 3.5"(softball) or greater. Stay tuned for a possible FB Live Event. If we haven't gone into operation, then I'm planning to be live at 4pm. Be safe everyone!

03/09/2026

Below is the Thunderstorm Outlook provided by the NOAA Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK for 3/10/2026. Most of Central IL is now in an Enhanced Risk for severe weather tomorrow, March 10th. At this time it looks like it will be a late afternoon\evening weather event. All hazards are expected with these storms and there is a heightened risk for Tornadoes. The overall risk is likely to go up as we get closer to tomorrow evening. Please stayed tuned to your trusted weather source. Also watch our page for a possible Live discussion this evening.

03/09/2026

Severe storm season is here. Do you KNOW the difference between a Tornado Watch, a Tornado Warning and a Tornado Emergency? https://www.weather.gov/safety/tornado-ww

03/02/2026

Our new meeting room table and chairs.

01/30/2026