Illinois Ranked Fourth in Nation in Number of Tornado Reports in 2015

According to the NOAA Storm Prediction Center, Illinois is ranked fourth in the nation for the number of tornado reports in 2015. Here are the top five states:

  1. Texas with 164 reports
  2. Kansas with 150 reports
  3. Oklahoma with 100 reports
  4. Illinois with 64 reports
  5. Colorado with 48 reports
April 9, 2015. Click to enlarge.
April 9, 2015. Click to enlarge.

The most outstanding event for 2015 was the April 9 outbreak that produced 11 tornadoes, including a rare EF-4 tornado. The map on the left shows all the severe weather reports for that day. More on this outbreak can be found here.

The map below is for all the tornado reports across the US in 2015. Many of the Illinois tornadoes occurred in far northern and far southern Illinois this year, while central Illinois has been relatively quiet.

Tornado reports for 2015. Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center
Tornado reports for 2015. Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center

One footnote about tornado reports – it is possible that multiple damage reports may be produced from the same tornado as it moves from one town to the next. Therefore, the number of actual tornadoes may be less than the number of damage reports.

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