On April 17th, a tornado event resulted in 80 verified tornadoes across seven states in the US, marking it as the most significant multi-tornado incident of 2026 thus far. Northern Illinois faced the brunt of the impact, with 39 tornadoes recorded in just one day. Two EF3 tornadoes tore through western Wisconsin, and several tornadoes near Rochester, Minnesota were filmed live by traffic cameras. The Wolf River in Wisconsin surged to nearly one foot above its historical flood stage, worsening the devastation. Remarkably, despite the unprecedented nature of the outbreak, there were no reported fatalities.
