Tornadoes in Illinois, April 9, 1953

Name: Tornadoes in Illinois, April 9, 1953
Start: 1953-04-09T16:15
End: 1953-04-09T17:45
Location: Illinois

April 9, 1953 · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

3 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 13
Property damage: $50 million
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

Event by event

3 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Logan

When: April 9, 4:15 PM CST
Where: Logan County
Rating: F2
Path length: 6.5 mi
Path width: 30 yd
Injuries: 3 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $25,000
Coordinates: 40.120, -89.450

Tornado, Champaign

When: April 9, 5:15 PM CST
Where: Champaign County
Rating: F3
Path length: 17.8 mi
Path width: 150 yd
Injuries: 5 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $25 million
Coordinates: 40.180, -88.220

Tornado, Vermilion

When: April 9, 5:45 PM CST
Where: Vermilion County
Rating: F3
Path length: 19.2 mi
Path width: 150 yd
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 5 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $25 million
Coordinates: 40.230, -87.880

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Tornado, Vermilion	1953-04-09				Direct

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Illinois in 1953 Every state in 1953 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Illinois, 1953

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 10009731, 10009732, 10009733.