While this tornado caused damage in central Illinois early this afternoon, hopefully no one has been injured. But, I simply don't understand what transpired and I'm hoping some of my helpful readers can fill me in. The possibility that tornadoes could occur in central Illinois was forecasted by the NWS Storm Prediction Center at ~11:45am (brown, below). Given the fact that a derecho was approaching the area at 70 mph, it was essential Lincoln - Central Illinois radar be switched to the 80-second "tornado" mode. At 12:06pm (velocity time, upper right of the frame), there was very weak rotation just west of Berlin, IL. Had it been me, I would not have issued a tornado warning at this time. The rotation was too weak. I have highlighted the town of Loami, which becomes important in the next frame. Because of the 3.5 minute interval between frames, the next data indicates a full-fledged tornado is doing damage! Any hope of advance warning was lost because the radar wa...