Tornadoes · United States · Illinois

2002 tornadoes in Illinois

37 tornadoes touched down in Illinois in 2002, 10 percent below the average of the record for the state. They killed 4 people and injured 64.

2001 2003 The whole country in 2002

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 2002

April 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 18	7:43 PM CDT	F0	Lake	0.1	20

April 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 19	7:27 PM CDT	F1	Cass	2.0	40

April 21 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 21	3:49 PM CDT	F3	Jefferson	31.5	500	1	42	$4.0 million

April 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 24	5:13 PM CDT	F0	Gallatin	0.1	20

April 27 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 27	10:35 PM CDT	F1	Saint Clair	1.7	100
April 27	12:05 AM CDT	F1	Clay	5.0	200		5

April 28 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 28	1:07 AM CDT	F2	Saline	7.5	200		3	$3.5 million
April 28	1:18 AM CDT	F3	Union	19.3	400	1	10	$8.0 million
April 28	1:46 AM CDT	F2	Johnson	7.0	400		2	$100,000
April 28	1:59 AM CDT	F3	Pope	22.0	200		1	$440,000

May 1 13 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries
May 1	1:38 PM CDT	F1	Bond	6.0	40
May 1	1:38 PM CDT	F1	Bond	6.5	40
May 1	1:38 PM CDT	F1	Bond	7.5	40	1
May 1	1:40 PM CDT	F0	Bond	2.5	30
May 1	1:41 PM CDT	F1	Bond	5.0	40
May 1	1:42 PM CDT	F1	Bond	2.5	40
May 1	2:10 PM CDT	F1	Marion	7.0	40
May 1	2:11 PM CDT	F1	Marion	6.5	40
May 1	2:15 PM CDT	F1	Marion	2.5	40
May 1	3:00 PM CDT	F0	Macoupin	0.5	75
May 1	4:20 PM CDT	F0	Shelby	0.1	20
May 1	4:30 PM CDT	F0	Cumberland	0.3	50
May 1	4:30 PM CDT	F1	Cumberland	1.0	100

May 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 7	2:20 AM CDT	F0	Calhoun	0.1	25

May 8 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 8	12:32 AM CDT	F0	Woodford	5.5	50

May 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 9	2:11 AM CDT	F1	Marion	0.5	100	2

May 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 12	7:00 PM CDT	F0	Randolph	0.1	30

June 4 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 4	2:54 PM CDT	F0	Livingston	2.0	50
June 4	3:16 PM CDT	F0	Livingston	1.0	50

June 11 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
June 11	3:15 PM CDT	F0	Pike	0.7	60
June 11	3:39 PM CDT	F0	Morgan	0.3	10
June 11	5:00 PM CDT	F0	Fayette	2.5	50
June 11	5:05 PM CDT	F0	Fayette	0.7	40
June 11	5:40 PM CDT	F0	Cumberland	2.0	50

June 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 12	12:20 AM CDT	F0	Fulton	1.8	12

November 10 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 10	1:32 PM CST	F0	Jackson	9.0	100			$4,000
November 10	1:41 PM CST	F0	Franklin	0.5	50			$1,000

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.