Tornadoes · United States · Illinois

2009 tornadoes in Illinois

52 tornadoes touched down in Illinois in 2009, 27 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2008 2010 The whole country in 2009

The rating scale

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

EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
EF2111 to 135 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.
EF3136 to 165 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
EF5over 200 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 2009

March 8 19 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
March 8	10:56 AM CDT	EF2	Jersey	1.0	100
March 8	10:57 AM CDT	EF0	Jersey	3.7	40
March 8	11:10 AM CDT	EF1	Greene	4.8	352
March 8	11:25 AM CDT	EF1	Randolph	0.8	75
March 8	11:27 AM CDT	EF1	Randolph	2.4	100	1
March 8	11:30 AM CDT	EF1	Macoupin	4.2	75
March 8	11:32 AM CDT	EF1	Sangamon	5.1	200	2	$610,000
March 8	11:33 AM CDT	EF0	Randolph	3.6	50
March 8	11:46 AM CDT	EF2	Washington	4.3	200
March 8	11:56 AM CDT	EF0	Washington	2.3	50
March 8	12:01 PM CDT	EF0	Washington	1.4	40
March 8	12:27 PM CDT	EF1	Jefferson	2.3	150		$60,000
March 8	12:34 PM CDT	EF0	Jefferson	4.2	100		$92,000
March 8	12:42 PM CDT	EF1	Wayne	14.4	50	1	$40,000
March 8	12:58 PM CDT	EF2	Wayne	5.6	100		$110,000
March 8	1:01 PM CDT	EF0	Livingston	0.5	100		$20,000
March 8	1:43 PM CDT	EF1	Lawrence to IN	4.4	100	1	$305,000
March 8	1:56 PM CDT	EF1	Kankakee	0.7	80		$40,000
March 8	2:00 PM CDT	EF1	Kankakee	0.5	120		$30,000

May 8 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 8	11:30 AM CDT	EF1	Jackson	3.1	100	$80,000
May 8	11:32 AM CDT	EF0	Jackson	0.4	30
May 8	1:12 PM CDT	EF0	Jackson	0.1	40	$10,000
May 8	1:18 PM CDT	EF0	Franklin	0.3	40
May 8	1:45 PM CDT	EF1	Franklin	5.5	150
May 8	8:14 PM CDT	EF0	Warren	0.5	25

May 13 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 13	11:38 PM CDT	EF0	Macoupin	1.6	40
May 13	12:04 AM CDT	EF1	Christian	0.8	60	$50,000
May 13	12:12 AM CDT	EF0	Shelby	0.6	40	$60,000
May 13	12:22 AM CDT	EF0	Shelby	1.4	50	$45,000
May 13	12:23 AM CDT	EF0	Vermilion	0.1	50	$35,000

June 1 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 1	4:30 PM CDT	EF0	Stephenson	0.3	200			$100,000

June 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 2	4:25 PM CDT	EF0	Brown	3.0	50

June 8 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 8	5:30 PM CDT	EF2	Saint Clair	11.8	176
June 8	7:42 PM CDT	EF0	Perry	0.4	100	$4,000
June 8	8:00 PM CDT	EF1	Perry	4.8	300	$26,000

June 19 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 19	5:50 PM CDT	EF0	Vermilion	0.1	10
June 19	6:09 PM CDT	EF0	Vermilion	0.1	10
June 19	7:10 PM CDT	EF1	McHenry	0.7	75	$75,000

July 8 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 8	4:55 PM CDT	EF0	Peoria	0.1	10
July 8	5:03 PM CDT	EF0	Mason	0.1	10

July 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 24	9:50 PM CDT	EF1	Bureau	1.2	50			$150,000

July 30 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 30	4:26 PM CDT	EF0	Boone	0.3	20

August 19 10 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
August 19	2:10 PM CDT	EF1	Scott	15.1	250		$395,000
August 19	2:46 PM CDT	EF2	Morgan	19.1	440	3	$4.1 million
August 19	3:17 PM CDT	EF1	Sangamon	12.9	200		$200,000
August 19	3:19 PM CDT	EF3	Sangamon	24.3	880	19	$18 million
August 19	4:04 PM CDT	EF0	DeWitt	2.4	15		$10,000
August 19	4:27 PM CDT	EF0	McLean	2.5	20
August 19	5:10 PM CDT	EF0	Vermilion	4.7	50		$80,000
August 19	6:00 PM CDT	EF1	Kane	1.0	40		$25,000
August 19	6:00 PM CDT	EF1	Iroquois	2.8	50		$100,000
August 19	6:15 PM CDT	EF0	Kane	0.8	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.