Tornadoes · United States · Illinois

1992 tornadoes in Illinois

23 tornadoes touched down in Illinois in 1992, 44 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1991 1993 The whole country in 1992

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Every tornado in Illinois in 1992

March 6 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 63:51 PM CSTF0Morgan0.210

April 10 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 108:28 PM CDTF0Ogle0.150

April 15 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 155:30 PM CDTF0Fulton1.050$50,000 to $500,000

May 4 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 42:50 PM CDTF0Tazewell0.130$500 to $5,000
May 44:42 PM CDTF0McLean0.130
May 44:50 PM CDTF0McLean0.110

June 17 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 171:20 PM CDTF0Whiteside0.130
June 171:54 PM CDTF0Adams0.540$500 to $5,000
June 174:40 PM CDTF2Iroquois0.1201$50,000 to $500,000
June 174:45 PM CDTF1Iroquois0.120$5,000 to $50,000
June 174:45 PM CDTF0Champaign0.1101

June 19 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 198:50 PM CDTF0Whiteside0.240$500 to $5,000

July 2 4 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 22:05 PM CDTF0Adams0.1250
July 22:10 PM CDTF0Adams0.8300$500 to $5,000
July 22:38 PM CDTF0Adams0.2350
July 24:55 PM CDTF0Pike0.1250

July 4 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 48:11 PM CDTF1Saint Clair6.0500$500,000 to $5 million

July 25 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 255:10 PM CDTF0McDonough7.01,000
July 255:25 PM CDTF0McDonough3.0500$50,000 to $500,000

July 30 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 3012:50 PM CDTF0Coles0.1100$500 to $5,000
July 301:25 PM CDTF0Edgar0.133$5,000 to $50,000

August 26 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 263:33 PM CDTF0McLean0.110

September 9 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 95:46 PM CDTF0McLean0.210

Nearby

Every tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in IllinoisThe live radar over Illinois

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.