Published on August 31, 2026 7:13 am
Last Updated on August 31, 2026 7:16 am
By Jim Taylor FarmWeek.com
Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford continues to add up tornadoes in 2026, and the numbers keep climbing.
Fifteen have occurred in August, pushing the state over the 200-number mark, which shatters the previous record of 142 set in 2024.
Ford is in the process of putting together a 2026 timeline.
The first tornado outbreak occurred in mid-February.
“We had 14 tornadoes strewn across southeast Illinois from Effingham County over to the Indiana border,” Ford said.
Multiple tornado outbreaks also happened in March.
“There was one along the I70 corridor from the St. Louis Metro East area up to the Effingham area,” he said. “We also had those really intense storms that moved across from LaSalle to Kankakee, so we had about 30 tornadoes in March.”
April was a very active month with 70 tornadoes impacting the state.
“Most of those were in central Illinois, including a lot in Logan County and Tazewell County,” Ford said. “There was an EF2 tornado in Lena, which was an intense event in April.”
May was a quiet month with just one tornado, but things ramped back up in June with 90 tornadoes across the state including the June 17th twister that caused so much damage in our area.
“Again hot spots were in central and southeast Illinois, including an EF3 that spun up north of Peoria and the Washburn area and moved across and caused some damage in Dwight and Streator,” he said.
July included 10 tornadoes with several in the Chicagoland area; 15 tornadoes have been recorded this month with most in northern Illinois.
