Tornadoes · United States · Illinois

2020 tornadoes in Illinois

63 tornadoes touched down in Illinois in 2020, 54 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2019 2021 The whole country in 2020

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 2020

January 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
January 11	2:02 AM CST	EF1	Union	0.9	50			$80,000

March 19 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 19	3:44 PM CDT	EF1	Perry	3.2	125		1	$300,000
March 19	4:22 PM CDT	EF1	Hamilton	2.9	300			$128,000

March 28 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
March 28	5:39 PM CDT	Unrated	Knox	0.1	10
March 28	7:43 PM CDT	Unrated	Henry	1.1	10
March 28	8:01 PM CDT	EF1	Fulton	2.1	100	$100,000
March 28	8:20 PM CDT	EF1	Whiteside	2.2	20
March 28	8:58 PM CDT	EF1	Peoria	3.3	50	$300,000
March 28	9:13 PM CDT	EF1	Ogle	7.0	400

April 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 28	6:56 PM CDT	EF0	Sangamon	2.1	100			$100,000

May 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 14	10:16 PM CDT	EF1	Henry	4.3	100

May 17 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 17	3:15 PM CDT	Unrated	Kendall	0.7	25
May 17	4:06 PM CDT	EF0	Macon	4.0	75	$10,000
May 17	5:26 PM CDT	Unrated	Grundy	0.5	25

May 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 19	6:07 PM CDT	Unrated	Piatt	0.9	25

May 23 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
May 23	1:54 PM CDT	EF0	Woodford	3.5	75		$20,000
May 23	2:29 PM CDT	EF1	Whiteside	12.3	30
May 23	2:53 PM CDT	EF0	Kendall	6.3	100	1
May 23	4:18 PM CDT	Unrated	Jo Daviess	0.5	20
May 23	4:30 PM CDT	EF1	Ogle	0.3	100
May 23	6:06 PM CDT	EF0	Kane	3.2	50

May 27 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 27	7:34 PM CDT	Unrated	Clinton	0.1	10

May 28 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
May 28	4:10 PM CDT	Unrated	Peoria	1.7	25
May 28	5:50 PM CDT	Unrated	Montgomery	2.9	100
May 28	7:25 PM CDT	Unrated	Moultrie	0.4	20
May 28	7:34 PM CDT	Unrated	Moultrie	0.3	20

June 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 9	6:24 PM CDT	Unrated	Ford	4.4	75

July 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 4	7:02 PM CDT	Unrated	Lee	0.1	25

July 8 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 8	4:04 PM CDT	Unrated	Whiteside	0.3	10

July 15 8 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 15	1:37 PM CDT	Unrated	Tazewell	0.1	10
July 15	1:45 PM CDT	Unrated	Tazewell	0.1	10
July 15	4:04 PM CDT	Unrated	McLean	0.2	10
July 15	4:28 PM CDT	EF0	Morgan	4.1	50	$20,000
July 15	4:47 PM CDT	Unrated	Macoupin	0.1	15
July 15	4:58 PM CDT	EF0	Montgomery	3.2	75
July 15	5:05 PM CDT	EF0	Montgomery	0.6	50
July 15	5:18 PM CDT	EF0	Sangamon	4.5	300

July 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 20	3:01 PM CDT	EF0	Massac	0.3	30			$15,000

July 21 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 21	4:05 PM CDT	EF1	Sangamon	4.4	100			$300,000
July 21	4:18 PM CDT	Unrated	Montgomery	0.2	10

August 10 15 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 10	2:12 PM CDT	EF0	Stephenson	4.6	50
August 10	2:37 PM CDT	EF0	Winnebago	1.6	50
August 10	2:47 PM CDT	EF1	Winnebago	9.2	300
August 10	2:50 PM CDT	EF0	DeKalb	6.3	40
August 10	2:59 PM CDT	EF1	LaSalle	0.9	150
August 10	3:05 PM CDT	EF1	McHenry	5.7	200
August 10	3:12 PM CDT	EF1	Kane	1.2	40
August 10	3:15 PM CDT	EF1	Kendall	14.4	250
August 10	3:35 PM CDT	EF1	DuPage	0.4	100
August 10	3:39 PM CDT	EF1	DuPage	2.1	200
August 10	3:41 PM CDT	EF1	Lake to WI	6.3	150	$250,000
August 10	3:54 PM CDT	EF1	Cook	4.8	300
August 10	3:57 PM CDT	EF0	Cook	2.0	350
August 10	3:59 PM CDT	EF1	Cook	3.2	300
August 10	4:04 PM CDT	EF0	Kankakee	1.5	150

November 10 8 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
November 10	1:45 PM CST	EF1	Mercer	20.3	50
November 10	2:02 PM CST	EF1	Mercer	0.5	30
November 10	2:38 PM CST	EF1	Whiteside	0.3	100
November 10	2:42 PM CST	EF1	Henry	0.3	30
November 10	2:50 PM CST	EF1	Whiteside	3.5	100
November 10	3:00 PM CST	EF1	Whiteside	4.3	100
November 10	4:19 PM CST	EF0	DeKalb	10.0	50
November 10	4:39 PM CST	EF0	Kane	3.7	50

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.