Storm reports for April 17, 2026

At about 2:17 p.m. CDT on April 17, an EF2 tornado with peak winds near 130 mph formed on the northeast side of Stewartville, Minnesota, and tracked about 10 miles, damaging numerous homes and farms.^1,2 In a neighborhood along Marion Road, several homes lost roofs and exterior walls and were left uninhabitable. Three people were injured, and NOAA's Storm Events Database lists $8.19 million in damage.² At about 3:27 p.m., an EF3 tornado with peak winds near 140 mph formed southwest of Cream in Buffalo County, Wisconsin, and tracked northeast to north of Montana. Homes and farm outbuildings south of Cream were heavily damaged, and some outbuildings were destroyed.^1,3

In Marathon County, Wisconsin, an EF3 tornado with peak winds near 145 mph touched down east of Kronenwetter at about 4:46 p.m. CDT and tracked 13.5 miles northeast along the Eau Claire River.⁴ It destroyed 13 homes and did major damage to 25 more, 101 homes had minor damage or were affected, and the database lists $8.2 million in damage.⁴ An EF2 tornado with peak winds near 130 mph touched down southwest of Lena, Illinois, at about 3:36 p.m. CDT and tracked through the town. Many houses had shingle and siding damage, and three lost their entire roof structure.⁵

Near Colmar, Illinois, gusts of 80 to 100 mph at about 7:15 p.m. damaged grain bins and other structures.⁶ The database lists two indirect deaths near Iowa Park, Texas, where storm winds rolled a tractor-trailer on U.S. Highway 287 shortly after midnight.⁷