Tornadoes · United States · Illinois

2000 tornadoes in Illinois

55 tornadoes touched down in Illinois in 2000, 34 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1999 2001 The whole country in 2000

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.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 2000

April 20 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 20	7:59 AM CDT	F1	Macoupin	1.0	30	$30,000
April 20	9:00 AM CDT	F0	Logan	0.2	10
April 20	9:05 AM CDT	F0	Sangamon	0.3	20
April 20	9:30 AM CDT	F1	Macon	0.3	300
April 20	9:30 AM CDT	F1	Macon	2.3	150
April 20	10:05 AM CDT	F0	Piatt	3.5	30

May 8 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
May 8	9:11 PM CDT	F0	Henry	0.1	10
May 8	10:12 PM CDT	F1	Tazewell	0.5	100		$280,000
May 8	11:14 PM CDT	F2	McLean	4.0	400	4	$170,000

May 12 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 12	4:00 PM CDT	F0	Logan	0.3	20
May 12	4:30 PM CDT	F0	Sangamon	2.0	50
May 12	5:00 PM CDT	F0	Macon	7.0	20
May 12	6:25 PM CDT	F1	Bond	9.0	50	$200,000
May 12	6:47 PM CDT	F2	Bond	1.5	100
May 12	7:10 PM CDT	F0	Fayette	1.5	40	$10,000

May 18 22 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
May 18	2:50 PM CDT	F0	Henry	0.1	10
May 18	3:09 PM CDT	F0	Henry	0.1	10
May 18	3:11 PM CDT	F0	Henry	0.1	10
May 18	3:34 PM CDT	F0	Henry	0.1	10
May 18	3:50 PM CDT	F0	Bureau	0.1	10		$10,000
May 18	4:00 PM CDT	F0	Bureau	0.1	10		$10,000
May 18	5:05 PM CDT	F0	LaSalle	3.0	100
May 18	5:18 PM CDT	F0	Woodford	0.2	20	1	$10,000
May 18	5:35 PM CDT	F0	Livingston	0.5	50
May 18	5:50 PM CDT	F0	Livingston	0.5	50
May 18	6:00 PM CDT	F0	Livingston	0.5	50
May 18	6:10 PM CDT	F0	Kankakee	0.5	50
May 18	6:10 PM CDT	F0	Kankakee	0.5	50
May 18	6:45 PM CDT	F0	Livingston	0.5	50
May 18	7:10 PM CDT	F0	Ford	0.5	50
May 18	7:12 PM CDT	F0	Logan	2.5	20
May 18	7:13 PM CDT	F0	McLean	0.1	20
May 18	7:20 PM CDT	F0	Iroquois	0.5	50
May 18	7:25 PM CDT	F0	McLean	0.1	20
May 18	7:30 PM CDT	F0	Ford	0.5	50
May 18	7:40 PM CDT	F0	Ford	0.5	50
May 18	7:45 PM CDT	F0	Champaign	0.1	10

May 26 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 26	11:13 PM CDT	F0	Scott	6.3	60
May 26	11:14 PM CDT	F0	Scott	4.3	60
May 26	11:36 PM CDT	F1	Morgan	1.5	100	$40,000

May 31 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 31	3:05 PM CDT	F0	Livingston	0.5	30

June 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 16	12:25 PM CDT	F0	Clinton	1.5	50

June 20 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 20	2:32 PM CDT	F1	Shelby	24.0	300	1	$70,000
June 20	2:40 PM CDT	F0	Montgomery	10.3	50
June 20	6:55 PM CDT	F0	Logan	0.3	100		$20,000
June 20	7:44 PM CDT	F0	Sangamon	0.2	150		$1,000
June 20	9:08 PM CDT	F0	Piatt	2.6	50		$20,000

June 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 24	2:40 PM CDT	F1	Saint Clair	6.2	100		2

July 18 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
July 18	6:50 PM CDT	F0	Macoupin	0.1	40
July 18	7:30 PM CDT	F0	Jersey	0.1	40
July 18	8:10 PM CDT	F0	Macoupin	0.1	40

July 31 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 31	3:40 PM CDT	F0	Ogle	0.5	50

August 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 23	6:23 PM CDT	F1	McLean	0.5	80			$10,000

September 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 11	9:45 PM CDT	F0	Knox	0.5	70

October 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 5	5:52 PM CDT	F0	Hardin	0.2	30

Nearby

Every tornado in Illinois since 1950 Warnings in force in Illinois The 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.