Hail,
- When
- April 21, 4:00 PM CST
- Where
- County
- Measured
- 1 in hail
- Coordinates
- 40.980, -91.180
Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, April 21, 1973
7 tornado, 1 hail, 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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 2
- Property damage
- $8.1 million
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 8
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
7 tornado, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado, Mercer
- When
- April 21, 5:43 PM CST
- Where
- Mercer County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 10.2 mi
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Property damage
- $2.5 million
- Coordinates
- 41.270, -90.830
Tornado, Rock Island
- When
- April 21, 5:58 PM CST
- Where
- Rock Island County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 13.6 mi
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Injuries
- 2 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $2.5 million
- Coordinates
- 41.330, -90.650
Tornado, Henry
- When
- April 21, 6:20 PM CST
- Where
- Henry County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 6.4 mi
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Property damage
- $2.5 million
- Coordinates
- 41.430, -90.420
Tornado, Cook
- When
- April 21, 9:00 PM CST
- Where
- Cook County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 0.2 mi
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Property damage
- $25,000
- Coordinates
- 41.850, -88.100
Tornado, Cook
- When
- April 21, 9:15 PM CST
- Where
- Cook County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 0.2 mi
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Property damage
- $25,000
- Coordinates
- 41.870, -88.120
Tornado, Bureau
- When
- April 21, 10:15 PM CST
- Where
- Bureau County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 11.6 mi
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 41.370, -89.680
Tornado, Bureau
- When
- April 21, 10:20 PM CST
- Where
- Bureau County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 8.6 mi
- Path width
- 60 yd
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 41.450, -89.670
What these are
- Hail
- Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
- 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
More
Every storm in Illinois in 1973Every state in 1973This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Illinois, 1973
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: 10006828, 10006829, 10006830, 10007678, 10007679, 10007895, 10007896, 10007897.