61
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
11
Direct injuries
$9.2M
Property damage
Tornado in Iroquois County, Illinois: 61 recorded events between 1954 and 2026. The strongest on record measured F3. That places the county #235 nationally and #14 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Tornado in Iroquois County, Illinois: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for tornado in Iroquois County is the 2020s, when 16 of the county's 61 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Iroquois County archive, tornado makes up 14.1% of all recorded severe weather across 8 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #235 for this hazard and #14 within Illinois, putting it in the 91.9 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Apr is the peak month for tornado in Iroquois County with 17 recorded events, while Jan is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
| Date | Scale | Path length | Max width | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976-03-12 | EF3 | 38.5 mi | 250 yd | Touched down here |
| 2013-11-17 | EF3 | 29.8 mi | 880 yd | Crossed in |
| 1968-05-15 | EF3 | 7.1 mi | 400 yd | Touched down here |
| 1956-03-06 | EF3 | 9.4 mi | 500 yd | Touched down here |
| 1992-06-17 | EF2 | 0.1 mi | 20 yd | Touched down here |
| 1990-06-22 | EF2 | 3.0 mi | 100 yd | Crossed in |
| 1976-04-23 | EF2 | 0.1 mi | 10 yd | Touched down here |
| 1976-04-23 | EF2 | 0.1 mi | 67 yd | Touched down here |
| 1975-05-24 | EF2 | 0.1 mi | 10 yd | Touched down here |
| 1973-03-31 | EF2 | 0.1 mi | 10 yd | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 6, 1956 | F3 | 0 | 6 | $250K | |
| Sep 15, 1965 | F2 | 0 | 2 | $25K | |
| May 31, 1954 | F2 | 0 | 2 | $250K | |
| Jun 17, 1992 | F2 | 0 | 1 | $250K |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 22, 2026 | BEAVERVILLE | EFU | $0 |
| Apr 17, 2026 | WOODLAND | EF1 | $0 |
| Apr 17, 2026 | WOODLAND | EF0 | $0 |
| Apr 17, 2026 | LAKE IROQUOIS | EF1 | $0 |
| Dec 28, 2025 | MARTINTON | EFU | $0 |
| Dec 28, 2025 | CHEBANSE | EF0 | $0 |
| Dec 28, 2025 | CLIFTON | EF1 | $0 |
| Dec 28, 2025 | ASHKUM | EF0 | $0 |
| May 15, 2025 | CLIFTON | EFU | $0 |
| Apr 2, 2025 | CISSNA PARK | EF0 | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Iroquois County
- Thunderstorm Wind 233
- Hail 73
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Thunderstorm winds downed power lines and snapped a power pole east of Gilman on highway 24. A small tornado touched down briefly. An abandoned cinder block car wash building was moved from its foundation and the roof was damaged. Several metal storage buildings were damaged, one landed on a car. Tree limbs and power lines were knocked down.
An EF1 tornado touched down east-southeast of Watseka with maximum winds of 85 to 95 mph. Two farmsteads experienced damage. A small barn was destroyed with its cinder block walls toppled and roof thrown one half mile. Multiple outbuildings had mainly minor damage. One utility pole was blown down. At one farmstead, there were several impaled objects, including pieces of wood into a camper and the ground, as well as a stop sign into the soil of an uprooted tree base.
The tornado started near the intersection of County Rd 700 N and Country Rd 1200 E as seen in corn pattern. As it moved southeast and approached the north side of Cissna Park, a small barn had a collapse of its roof structure and there were large branches down. There was damage to the school grounds on the north side of town, including the dugout of the roof blown off. One half mile northeast of town on IL-49, a couple of buildings were damaged with trees twisted down. At a residence off of Country Rd 1300 E, a house lost large sections of its roof structure, but the walls remained standing. There were also some trees snapped. As the tornado ended near County Rd 500 N, there were large branches broken and trees uprooted. Peak winds were estimated at 110 mph, and max width was 440 yards. (Tornado 15 of 15).
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many tornado events are on record in Iroquois County, Illinois?
61 tornado events are recorded in Iroquois County between 1954 and 2026, causing 0 direct deaths.
What is the strongest tornado recorded in Iroquois County?
The strongest tornado on record in Iroquois County measured F3.
Where does the tornado data for Iroquois County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Tornado in Iroquois County, Illinois.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/illinois/iroquois-county/tornado/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.