Chicago, IL Tornado History — 100 Tornadoes Since 1950
How many tornadoes has Chicago, IL had?
Chicago has had 100 tornadoes on record within 25 miles since 1950, including 6 violent (EF3+) tornadoes.
When was the most recent tornado near Chicago?
The most recent tornado within 25 miles of Chicago was an EF0 on March 19, 2025.
When is tornado season in Chicago?
July is historically the peak month for tornadoes near Chicago, with 24 on record. Spring through early summer (April–June) generally sees the highest activity across most of the central and southern United States.
At a Glance
Recent Tornado Activity Near Chicago
The last 20 years of confirmed tornadoes within 25 miles — 49 total, averaging 2.5 per year over this window.
Preliminary tornado reports near Chicago since December 29, 2025
These are 7 preliminary reports, not confirmed tornadoes. They have not yet been through an NWS damage survey, and are not counted in the confirmed totals above.
Preliminary reports are revised, merged, and sometimes withdrawn — historically about 23% are consolidated downward once surveys complete. Ratings are omitted until a survey assigns one.
Confirmed records above are complete through December 29, 2025. NOAA publishes the confirmed archive annually, so tornadoes after that date appear here first and move into the totals above once finalized.
Within 25 miles of Chicago. Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center preliminary storm reports, updated daily.
Tornadoes by Decade
Tornadoes by Enhanced Fujita Rating
F0–F5 ratings (pre-2007) are grouped with their EF equivalents. The Enhanced Fujita scale replaced the original Fujita scale in February 2007.
Tornadoes by Month
Casualties on Record Near Chicago
41 fatalities have been recorded within 25 miles of Chicago since 1950, across 6 events. 915 injuries have been reported across all events. 1967 was the deadliest year on record.
The deadliest single event was a F4 on April 21, 1967, which caused 33 fatalities along a 15.0-mile track.
Notable Tornadoes Near Chicago
About Tornadoes in Chicago
This overview was written April 23, 2026. The tornado counts and notable-event figures elsewhere on this page reflect the latest data and may differ from this summary.
Chicago and the surrounding nine-county Cook/DuPage/Kane/Lake/McHenry/Will/Kendall/DeKalb/Lake-IN metro sit at the northeastern edge of the central US tornado belt. Chicagoland's tornado risk is real but distinct from Tornado Alley — supercells regularly track through northern Illinois in spring and summer, often after the storms have weakened from peak intensity in Iowa and Wisconsin, but quasi-linear convective systems (squall lines) and lake-effect-modified setups also produce tornadoes that don't follow the classic Plains template.
The 1967 Belvidere/Oak Lawn outbreak
The defining historical event in the Chicago metro is the April 21, 1967 outbreak, which produced multiple violent tornadoes across northern Illinois on a single afternoon. The F4 Belvidere tornado killed 24 people, including 13 children at Belvidere High School. Hours later, the F4 Oak Lawn tornado tracked from southwest suburbs through Oak Lawn and into the city's southern edge, killing 33 and injuring more than 500 — one of the deadliest tornadoes in Illinois history. The April 1967 outbreak remains the single worst severe-weather day in the Chicago metro on record.
The 1990 Plainfield F5
The F5 Plainfield tornado of August 28, 1990 killed 29 people and is the only confirmed F5 in the Chicago metro's modern record. The tornado tracked from Crest Hill through Plainfield and into Joliet during what looked like an ordinary afternoon storm — there was no NWS tornado warning before it touched down, partly because radar limitations of the era couldn't distinguish the embedded supercell from the surrounding precipitation. The 1990 Plainfield event is widely credited with accelerating NEXRAD Doppler radar deployment and improving severe-weather warning lead time across the country. Modern radar would almost certainly have produced a warning.
Recent Chicago-metro tornadoes
The June 20, 2021 Naperville/Woodridge EF3 tracked through DuPage County after dark, damaging hundreds of homes in the Cress Creek and Atwater Estates neighborhoods. No fatalities — a rare outcome for an EF3 hitting dense suburbs at night, attributed to wide warning coverage and effective Wireless Emergency Alert delivery. The July 12, 2023 west suburbs EF1 swarm dropped seven separate tornadoes across DuPage and Kane Counties during a single squall-line passage, including one that crossed I-88 just east of Naperville at the height of evening rush hour.
Tornadoes by part of Chicagoland
Cook County's tornado track density is highest in the southern and western suburbs (Joliet, Plainfield, Lemont, Orland Park, Tinley Park) where storm motion brings supercells from the Iowa/Illinois border. North suburbs (Schaumburg, Arlington Heights, Lake Zurich) get less, but McHenry and Lake counties on the Wisconsin border have repeatedly been hit. Downtown Chicago and the city's North Side proper have seen relatively few tornadoes — Lake Michigan's stabilizing influence on the immediate lakeshore is real, though it doesn't extend more than a few miles inland.
What this means for Chicago residents today
Chicago's tornado preparedness is uneven. Outdoor sirens are operated by individual municipalities and counties — coverage is dense in the suburbs but spotty along the city's south and west sides. Most older Chicago bungalows and three-flats have basements; many newer condos, lofts, and apartment buildings don't. Cook County emergency management identifies interior bathrooms or hallways on the lowest floor as the recommended shelter location for residents without basements.
For nighttime alerting — the primary risk window for the 2021 Naperville and most modern Chicago-area tornadoes — phone-call alerts that bypass Do Not Disturb are the most reliable layer. NWS Chicago (LOT, located in Romeoville) has one of the most experienced warning forecaster groups in the network and has consistently delivered 15+ minutes of lead time on suburban tornado warnings since the 2010s.