Tornadoes · United States · Illinois

1997 tornadoes in Illinois

32 tornadoes touched down in Illinois in 1997, 22 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1996 1998 The whole country in 1997

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 1997

April 5 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 51:30 PM CSTF0Adams1.550$10,000

April 30 19 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 301:22 PM CDTF0Adams1.050
April 301:25 PM CDTF0Adams8.050
April 301:35 PM CDTF0Adams13.050$10,000
April 301:50 PM CDTF0Hancock1.020$400,000
April 302:03 PM CDTF0Hancock12.010
April 302:19 PM CDTF1McDonough2.020$20,000
April 302:25 PM CDTF0Warren17.010
April 302:30 PM CDTF0McDonough1.010$20,000
April 302:55 PM CDTF1Fulton7.01002$450,000
April 303:00 PM CDTF0Knox7.050
April 303:05 PM CDTF0Montgomery0.123
April 303:12 PM CDTF0Peoria24.050$140,000
April 303:15 PM CDTF0Tazewell0.5501
April 303:30 PM CDTF0Henry2.010
April 303:40 PM CDTF0Macon1.050$20,000
April 303:40 PM CDTF1Bureau0.120
April 303:53 PM CDTF0Macon0.150
April 304:05 PM CDTF0McLean14.550$100,000
April 304:15 PM CDTF0Piatt0.150

May 18 4 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 187:18 PM CDTF2Lake6.073
May 188:30 PM CDTF0Warren0.110
May 188:55 PM CDTF0Bureau0.110
May 189:19 PM CDTF0Knox0.150

May 25 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 2512:55 PM CDTF0Coles0.110

June 11 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 111:45 PM CDTF0LaSalle1.030

July 18 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 183:30 PM CDTF1DuPage3.0150
July 183:50 PM CDTF1Will2.01502

July 19 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 195:35 PM CDTF0McDonough0.110

July 27 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 275:10 PM CDTF0Rock Island0.110

August 3 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 34:58 PM CDTF0Knox0.250
August 35:04 PM CDTF0Stark0.110

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.