Cook County: The Surprising Leader In Tornado Damage Risk

Think about this for a second: There are 3,144 counties (and county equivalents, like parishes) in the United States, with 102 of them being in Illinois. Out of those 3,000-plus counties, there's one county in the state of Illinois that carries the biggest risk of tornado damage of them all, according to a new study.

Sadly, Illinois and Illinoisans have had many, many experiences with tornados over the years, often with tragic results. Here are a few Illinois-related tornado facts that you might not have known (hat tip to Illinois State Climatologist):

On average, the United States experiences 100,000 thunderstorms per year. About 1,000 tornadoes develop from these storms.
The prime tornado period in Illinois is April through June, with 63% of Illinois’ tornadoes occurring during that time.
Average number of tornadoes in Illinois is 54 per year, but there were none in 1919 and 1933, and as many as 124 tornadoes in 2006 and 121 in 2023.
Illinois has experienced two of the worst tornadoes in the nation’s history: the infamous Tri-State tornado of March 18, 1925, which resulted in 695 deaths, 2000 injuries, and $130 million in property damage; and the Mattoon tornado of May 26, 1917, which resulted in 101 deaths, 638 injuries, and $55 million in property damage.

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Two Illinois Counties Land In The Top Ten List Of The Counties Most At Risk For Tornado Damage--One Of Them Is Number-One In The Nation, The Other Is Number-Ten

The study of most at-risk for tornado damage counties comes from HomeGnome.com, a website devoted to home services and home service professionals. Here's what they looked at to determine their findings:

Using FEMA data, we analyzed nearly 950 counties with moderate to very high tornado risk. We considered six key factors, including tornado frequency, expected annual losses, average home age, and whether local building codes account for tornado resilience.

I know that Illinois, along with Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas is part of the infamous "Tornado Alley" we all hear so much about at this time of year, but I just assumed that some county in Kansas, Oklahoma, or Texas would be far more at risk than a county in Illinois--and I'm wrong.

The county in Illinois most at risk for tornado damage is also the last county in the state I would have guessed. It's home to this somewhat well-known city:

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Surprisingly Enough, It's Cook County

HomeGnome.com's study names Cook County as our nation's most at risk county for tornado damage, and says that Illinois' DuPage County comes in at number ten.

Here's their entire top ten list: