Large tornado touches down near Peoria, Illinois

(Reuters) - A large tornado touched down outside Peoria, Illinois, on Sunday as an expansive storm threatened parts of the Midwest, U.S. meteorologists said. "A confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado" was spotted near Washington, Illinois, located about 145 miles southwest of Chicago, the National Weather Service said, noting that the twister was moving northeast at about 55 miles per hour. The weather service advised that it would affect mainly rural areas, with mobile homes likely to be destroyed and trees likely to be uprooted or snapped. It was not immediately clear what, if any, damage resulted from the storm. The tornado emerged out of a large weather system bringing thunderstorms to parts of Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky, the weather service said. (Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Leslie Adler)