Tornado Warning Issued for Winnebago County, Illinois
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on April 17, 2026, 4 months ago. Warnings of this kind stay in effect for hours to a few days, so this page is a historical record of what was issued, not a current warning. For conditions where you are right now, check weather.gov (US), weather.gc.ca (Canada), the Met Office (UK), or the Bureau of Meteorology (Australia).
Areazine synthesizes this NWS weather alert directly from NOAA's official public data feed. See our methodology for full source attribution and refresh cadence.
A Tornado Warning is in effect for Winnebago County in Illinois until 5:15 PM CDT, with a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado and golf ball-sized hail.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Tornado Warning
- Affected area
- Winnebago County, Illinois
- Issued
- April 17, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS Chicago IL
Tornado warnings are short-window notices for the named area. The issuing office is the authority on whether the warning remains active or has been replaced.
Record status: historical. It was issued 4 months ago; use the issuing agency's live warning service for current conditions in Winnebago County, Illinois.
Tornado Warning in Winnebago County
Alert Details
A Tornado Warning has been issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) Chicago IL. This alert is effective from 4:09 PM CDT until 5:15 PM CDT.
Affected Areas
The warning affects Winnebago County in north central Illinois, including specific locations such as Dakota, Freeport, Durand, Machesney Park, Roscoe, Rockton, and South Beloit.
What You Should Do
Take cover now! Move to a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building. Avoid windows. If you are outdoors, in a mobile home, or in a vehicle, move to the closest substantial shelter and protect yourself from flying debris.
Expected Conditions
Hazards include a tornado and golf ball size hail (1.75 inches). The storm is capable of producing flying debris, damage to mobile homes, roofs, windows, vehicles, and trees, based on radar indicated rotation.
Timeline
The alert is effective from 4:09 PM CDT on April 17, 2026, and expires at 5:15 PM CDT on the same day.
Original source: NOAA Official Notice ↗
Related Weather Alerts
All Weather Alerts →Nationwide notices with similar length or severity timing 8
Two Areazine-derived peer sets for this NWS weather alert: nearest notices by body length and by same severity near the same agency date. Peers come from other categories so they are not the same-feed Related list above.
Similar body length
Nearest notices by article body length (1,018 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to April 17, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this NWS weather alert.