Quad Cities Weather Office Confirms Three Tornadoes as Illinois Shatters Annual Record With 161 Confirmed Touchdowns

Illinois has recorded 161 confirmed tornadoes in 2026, breaking the state's previous annual record of 147 set in 2025. The count could climb higher as survey crews continue assessing preliminary reports that have reached 200, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

The National Weather Service Quad Cities office confirmed three EF1 tornadoes struck the region during a severe weather outbreak on June 17. The storms also caused a train derailment near Monmouth, Illinois, and left more than 21,000 customers without power across Iowa and Illinois.

Illinois breaks tornado record for second consecutive year

Illinois' 2026 tornado count far surpasses the state's annual average of 64, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Chad Merrill. The preliminary count of 200 is more than double the count of any other state, with Kansas in second place at 83 preliminary reports.

"We're seeing a really unlucky, I would say, period of meteorology here for Illinois," said Steve Nesbitt, head of the climate, meteorology and atmospheric sciences department at the University of Illinois. "This is unprecedented, almost double the normal, almost triple the normal."

Illinois State Water Survey state climatologist Trent Ford said the spike is likely driven by natural weather variability rather than climate change alone. He noted that Illinois saw only 34 tornadoes in 2022 before recording over 100 in each of the last four years.

"If whatever is causing these last four years continues, which is likely a form of natural weather variability, if that continues over the next few years, we will probably see an increased risk of having a lot of tornadoes," Ford said. "But given that this isn't a primarily climate change driven thing, it's not something that we would expect to be the new normal where we would get an average of 150 tornadoes every single year for the next 30 years."

Three tornadoes confirmed in Quad Cities region

The NWS Quad Cities office documented the following tornadoes from the June 17 outbreak:

• An EF1 tornado in Monmouth, Illinois, with estimated peak winds of 100 mph. The tornado traveled 1.3 miles through the city and was active from 8:25 to 8:27 a.m. It caused structural damage to downtown buildings, downed power lines, and damaged trees.
• An EF1 tornado in Lee County, Iowa.
• An EF1 tornado south of Perkin, Iowa.

Straight-line winds of 80 to 100 mph caused additional damage across Warren County, Illinois. A BNSF train derailed near Ormonde, with 18 cars blown over. No injuries or hazardous materials were involved, and trains resumed operation by 7 a.m. Thursday, according to BNSF.

"A couple hundred trees were damaged or are completely down," the weather service said of Warren County damage.

More than 13,000 customers in Illinois lost power during the storms. Warren County reported over 6,000 outages and Henderson County reported nearly 4,000, according to KWQC.

Deadly EF3 tornado strikes southern Illinois

A separate and more deadly tornado outbreak on June 21 killed two people in Jefferson County, Illinois. The National Weather Service in Paducah, Kentucky, rated the tornado an EF3 with estimated peak winds of 140 mph and a track of about 14 miles.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office identified the victims as Delores B. Shelton, 83, of 19267 N. Ranch Lane in Mount Vernon, and Sarita L. Kimble, 62, of 14650 E. July Road in Mount Vernon. Five other people were injured.

"Three residences were destroyed, with many others suffering damage of varying degrees," the sheriff's office said. "The persons were killed as a direct result of the storm in two of the destroyed residences, one in each, both single-wide trailers."

An EF2 tornado also struck Charleston, Illinois, on June 17, traveling just under 14 miles with peak winds of 116 mph. State Farm opened a customer care site in Charleston to help residents file claims, and the Charleston Police Department implemented rolling road closures to clear storm debris.

What comes next

Most tornadoes in Illinois occur between April 1 and June 30, according to the National Weather Service. Nearly half of the state's tornadoes in recent years have struck during fall and winter months, from September through February.

Ford urged residents to have a shelter plan in place as the severe weather season continues.

"Regardless of whether our future holds a few more tornadoes a year or dozens more, there's a lot we can do to prepare," Ford said. "He reminds people to have a plan and know where you can take shelter if tornadoes like we saw yesterday, last week and the week before, break out again."