Tornado in Illinois
Every tornado event the National Weather Service has filed in Illinois, year by year, with the most significant episodes. 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.
The most significant on the map
The most significant tornado episodes in Illinois.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The record
- Events
- 3,647
- Deaths
- 236
- Injuries
- 4,649
- Damage
- $3.1 billion
Every year
The most significant
Ranked by deaths, injuries, damage and size together.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, April 21, 1967
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, August 28, 1990
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, December 18, 1957
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, May 29, 1982
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, May 15, 1968
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, February 29, 2012A squall line with embedded sustained supercells crossed southern Illinois. The embedded supercells raced east-northeast at 60 to 70 mph, while the line moved southeast at a slower rate.
- Tornadoes in Illinois, November 17, 2013A powerful low pressure system tracked from the central Rockies toward the southern Great Lakes on November 17th. As the system approached central Illinois, unseasonably warm and humid air was pulled northward into the area, resulting in high temperatures soaring into the 70s.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, April 11, 1965
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, August 21, 1977
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Illinois, April 20, 2004The tornado entered LaSalle County from Putnam County, approximately 3 miles northeast of the town of Standard, producing F0 intensity damage in a wooded area southwest of Peru.
- Tornadoes in Illinois, February 25, 1956
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, March 4, 1961
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, November 12, 1965
- Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Illinois, December 10, 2021Numerous severe thunderstorms formed ahead of an approaching cold front during the late afternoon and evening of Friday December 10th, 2021. Large hail, damaging winds and five tornadoes occurred across central and eastern Missouri as well as south central Illinois.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, June 14, 1957
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, July 23, 1975
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, March 12, 1976
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, May 13, 1995Golf ball-size hail was reported by the fire department at Saunemin and nickel-size hail was reported by a cooperative observer just south of the Kankakee-Iroquois County line near Chebanse.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, May 6, 2003The deadliest and most destructive storm of the night tracked within 10 miles of the Ohio River across extreme southern Illinois. The storm produced a 33-mile long tornado that killed two and injured about 33.
- Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Illinois, November 17, 2013Supercell thunderstorms developed along a pre-frontal low pressure trough over Missouri and then moved east across southern Illinois.
- Tornado and Hail in Illinois, April 17, 1963
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, May 1, 1983
- Tornadoes in Illinois, December 2, 1950
- Tornadoes and Hail in Illinois, April 3, 1974
- Tornado and Flash Flooding in Illinois, August 23 to 27, 2007Powerful and damaging thunderstorms moved across northern Illinois producing widespread wind damage.
More
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.