Tornadoes · United States · Illinois

2011 tornadoes in Illinois

72 tornadoes touched down in Illinois in 2011, 76 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2010 2012 The whole country in 2011

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 2011

February 27 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries
February 27	11:35 PM CST	EF1	Madison	3.3	100
February 27	11:39 PM CST	EF1	Madison	2.4	150
February 27	11:42 PM CST	EF1	Madison	2.0	50
February 27	11:45 PM CST	EF2	Madison	2.7	200	1
February 27	11:57 PM CST	EF1	Bond	2.7	50

February 28 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
February 28	12:03 AM CST	EF0	Washington	2.8	50
February 28	12:08 AM CST	EF2	Washington	2.3	100
February 28	12:27 AM CST	EF2	Fayette	1.3	90
February 28	12:32 AM CST	EF1	Fayette	0.1	10
February 28	12:33 AM CST	EF2	Fayette	0.1	50

April 15 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 15	5:30 PM CDT	EF1	Mason	3.1	100	1	$300,000
April 15	6:22 PM CDT	EF0	Menard	1.2	50		$10,000
April 15	6:25 PM CDT	EF1	Menard	1.7	150		$450,000

April 19 21 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 19	5:58 PM CDT	EF3	Macoupin	4.3	200	2
April 19	6:08 PM CDT	EF2	Montgomery	3.2	150
April 19	6:15 PM CDT	EF2	Montgomery	3.5	200
April 19	6:17 PM CDT	EF1	Christian	2.0	100		$90,000
April 19	6:30 PM CDT	EF0	Christian	3.5	100		$95,000
April 19	6:32 PM CDT	EF1	Christian	0.9	100		$60,000
April 19	7:59 PM CDT	EF1	Edgar	1.1	100		$140,000
April 19	8:02 PM CDT	EF0	Vermilion	2.7	25		$225,000
April 19	8:11 PM CDT	EF1	Vermilion	2.6	100		$360,000
April 19	8:35 PM CDT	EF0	Jackson	3.9	100		$70,000
April 19	8:40 PM CDT	EF1	Franklin	0.3	50		$80,000
April 19	8:49 PM CDT	EF1	Franklin	0.1	50		$10,000
April 19	9:02 PM CDT	EF1	Marion	0.4	75
April 19	9:03 PM CDT	EF1	Jefferson	4.3	100		$70,000
April 19	9:06 PM CDT	EF1	Jefferson	1.4	100		$90,000
April 19	9:19 PM CDT	EF1	Hamilton	3.4	150		$150,000
April 19	9:28 PM CDT	EF2	White	1.8	125		$2.0 million
April 19	9:30 PM CDT	EF1	White	1.4	100		$300,000
April 19	9:30 PM CDT	EF2	Wayne	10.6	150	2	$400,000
April 19	9:48 PM CDT	EF2	Wabash	11.3	250		$2.5 million
April 19	9:53 PM CDT	EF1	Wabash	2.8	125		$50,000

April 22 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries
April 22	8:50 PM CDT	EF2	Monroe	3.5	90	1
April 22	8:55 PM CDT	EF2	Madison	18.2	700
April 22	9:02 PM CDT	EF1	Saint Clair	1.8	80

April 23 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 23	2:15 PM CDT	EF2	Alexander	2.9	175			$700,000
April 23	2:47 PM CDT	EF1	Massac	6.6	250			$450,000

May 7 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 7	4:06 PM CDT	EF0	Ford	0.1	10
May 7	6:08 PM CDT	EF0	Vermilion	0.2	25

May 13 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 13	1:30 PM CDT	EF0	DeKalb	0.1	50

May 22 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 22	6:25 PM CDT	EF1	Ogle	29.1	200	$150,000
May 22	6:28 PM CDT	EF1	Ogle	1.7	200	$50,000
May 22	6:40 PM CDT	EF1	Ogle	0.5	100	$50,000
May 22	6:55 PM CDT	EF1	Winnebago	2.7	50
May 22	6:59 PM CDT	EF1	Winnebago	0.9	50	$15,000

May 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 23	5:25 PM CDT	EF1	Gallatin	11.8	200			$250,000

May 25 14 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 25	7:35 AM CDT	EF1	Macon	1.0	75	$165,000
May 25	7:39 AM CDT	EF1	Macon	1.5	75	$100,000
May 25	9:04 AM CDT	EF1	Kankakee	5.8	50	$250,000
May 25	6:06 PM CDT	EF0	McLean	0.9	25	$8,000
May 25	6:09 PM CDT	EF1	McLean	10.3	75	$10,000
May 25	6:28 PM CDT	EF2	Jefferson	13.5	250	$4.0 million
May 25	6:39 PM CDT	EF1	Union	2.0	125	$150,000
May 25	6:40 PM CDT	EF1	Pulaski	5.5	250	$50,000
May 25	6:45 PM CDT	EF1	Pulaski	10.0	120	$40,000
May 25	6:55 PM CDT	EF2	Pulaski	19.9	325	$255,000
May 25	6:58 PM CDT	EF0	Champaign	0.2	15	$5,000
May 25	7:18 PM CDT	EF1	Clay	1.0	75	$510,000
May 25	7:35 PM CDT	EF0	Richland	0.2	10
May 25	7:57 PM CDT	EF2	Crawford	5.5	200	$920,000

June 10 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 10	7:05 PM CDT	EF0	Schuyler	0.2	10

June 15 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 15	3:25 PM CDT	EF0	Shelby	0.3	10
June 15	3:30 PM CDT	EF0	Shelby	0.3	20	$20,000
June 15	6:18 PM CDT	EF0	Cook	0.8	20	$25,000

June 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 19	3:48 AM CDT	EF1	Perry	3.2	250		1	$550,000

June 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 20	6:14 AM CDT	EF0	Kankakee	2.4	100			$100,000

June 21 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 21	8:31 PM CDT	EF1	DuPage	2.1	200			$500,000
June 21	8:48 PM CDT	EF1	Cook	2.4	200			$50,000

July 27 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 27	7:18 PM CDT	EF0	Jo Daviess	0.1	17
July 27	7:55 PM CDT	EF0	Jo Daviess	0.5	17

Crossed into Illinois

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Illinois. They are counted under the state they began in.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 22	7:59 PM CDT	EF1	McClain, OK to MO, IL	0.2	30			$5,000
April 22	7:59 PM CDT	EF4	St. Louis tornado, MO	21.3	880		5	$250 million

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.