Live
Active alerts for this county
Extreme Heat Warning
Knox; Stark; Peoria; Marshall; Woodford; Fulton; Tazewell; McLean; Schuyler; Mason; Logan; De Witt; Piatt; Champaign; Vermilion; Cass; Menard; Scott; Morgan; Sangamon; Christian; Macon; Moultrie; Douglas; Coles; Edgar; Shelby; Cumberland; Clark; Effingham; Jasper; Crawford; Clay; Richland; Lawrence
Menard County, Illinois severe weather history spans 258 recorded events between 1966 and 2025. The dominant hazard is thunderstorm wind, accounting for 53.9% of all recorded events. It ranks #2,055 nationally and #75 in Illinois.
258
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
7
Direct injuries
$14.6M
Property damage
The record
What the Menard County, Illinois severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Menard County, Illinois severe weather history averages 4.4 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2000s, with 86 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 21 events fall before 1990 and 237 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is tornado, with $12.5M in reported property damage. In total, 6 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Menard County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 139 | 0 | $948K | 70 | 1966–2025 |
| Hail | 79 | 0 | $0 | 2.5 | 1966–2025 |
| Flash Flood | 23 | 0 | $1.1M | 0 | 1996–2023 |
| Tornado | 14 | 0 | $12.5M | F0 | 1973–2025 |
| Flood | 2 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2017–2019 |
| Lightning | 1 | 0 | $50K | 0 | 2009–2009 |
Decade by decade
Menard County, Illinois severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
14 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 10 touched down inside it and 4 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-12-31 | EF3 | 0 | 1 | 3.6 mi | Touched down here |
| 2021-12-10 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 4.6 mi | Touched down here |
| 2025-06-18 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 7.4 mi | Crossed in |
| 2025-06-18 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 1.4 mi | Touched down here |
| 2019-05-22 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 15.3 mi | Crossed in |
| 2011-04-15 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 1.7 mi | Touched down here |
| 1954-03-12 | EF1 | 0 | 3 | 38.6 mi | Crossed in |
| 2025-06-18 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 2015-06-07 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 2011-04-15 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 1.2 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Menard County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 29, 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | PETERSBURG | 0 | 3 | $0 |
| Jul 12, 2008 | Flash Flood | ATHENS | 0 | 2 | $40K |
| Dec 31, 2010 | Tornado | LINCNS NEW SALEM ST | 0 | 1 | $12.0M |
| Jul 20, 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | ATHENS | 0 | 1 | $0 |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
A tornado touched down on the west side of Lake Petersburg at 12:37 PM CST, then tracked northeast over the lake and across Sunny Acres Road, before lifting southeast of the intersection of Tice Road and Illinois 123 at 12:40 PM CST. A total of 29 homes sustained significant structural damage, four of which could not be repaired. Two barns were also destroyed, and nearly 100 houses and a nursing home had minor damage along the path of the tornado. One person was seriously injured when the tornado caused a large tree limb to fall on their automobile, crushing the car and trapping the occupant.
A tornado touched down in a field 3 miles northeast of Athens at 625 PM CDT. It tracked northward…damaging the roof of a house, destroying a small garage, and damaging several automobiles. Further north, the tornado knocked two trees down onto a house, doing severe damage to its roof and interior walls. It then tipped over a semi-trailer and damaged several trees before dissipating 4.8 miles north-northeast of Athens at 631 PM CDT.
Downburst thunderstorm winds of 75 to 85 mph produced a path of damage from Sweetwater to approximately 3 miles east of Sweetwater. Numerous trees and tree branches were blown down and several trees were uprooted. In addition, a few homes sustained minor roofing damage, as did several grain bins and farm outbuildings.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Very Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
12,095
Population (ACS)
$186K
Median home value
12
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 13, 2021 | Tornado | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES | EM |
| Mar 26, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| Mar 17, 2011 | Snowstorm | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR |
| Dec 29, 2006 | Snowstorm | SNOW | EM |
| Sep 7, 2005 | Hurricane | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Menard County, Illinois?
258 events are on record between 1966 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths and $14.6M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Menard County?
Thunderstorm Wind, with 139 recorded events — 53.9% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Menard County?
14 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 10 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Menard County?
12 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Menard County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Menard County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Menard County as very low risk, placing it in the 29 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Menard County, Illinois severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- Massac County 300
- Mercer County 341
- Mason County 268
- Monroe County 315
- Marshall County 258
- Montgomery County 417
Cite this page
“Menard County, Illinois.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/illinois/menard-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.