National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

The Tornado Climatology Database for central and southeast Illinois has been updated.  It is available at the following link:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/?n=tor-climo

Tornadoes reported during 2010 were added to the listings.  In addition, a thorough quality control was done between the Storm Prediction Center database (used to create the track maps) and the National Climate Data Center database (used to create the tables beneath the maps), to eliminate any discrepancies. 

Based on total tornado reports from 1950-2010, the top 5 tornado counties in the Lincoln NWS coverage area are as follows:

1. McLean (101 tornadoes)
2. Sangamon (75 tornadoes)
3. Champaign (66 tornadoes)
4. Logan (59 tornadoes)
5. (tie) Macon and Tazewell (54 tornadoes each)

When evaluated for the number of tornadoes per 100 square miles, the top 5 counties are:

1. Logan (9.547 tornadoes per 100 square miles)
2. Sangamon (8.641)
3. McLean (8.530)
4. Tazewell (8.320)
5. Woodford (6.818)