Dry and breezy conditions will bring elevated to critical fire weather conditions across portions of the northern and central High Plains through this weekend, where fuels remain largely receptive. Severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall are possible from the Plains into the Upper Midwest, as well as in the Ohio Valley and portions of the Mid-Atlantic through this weekend. Read More >
Overview
The 2026 severe weather season is off to a very busy start with a plethora of early-season individual severe weather events. As of April 19, 2026, there have been 11 individual thunderstorm events associated with at least one report of severe weather (tornadoes, damaging winds, damaging hail and/or flash flooding) within the NWS Chicago forecast area. The average number of days with severe weather from January 1 through April 30 with at least one report of severe weather is around four! Here are the lists of events so far in 2026:
Storm Reports
The Lower Great Lakes region has been a hotspot for severe weather so far in 2026, with a relatively dense area of reports of tornadoes, damaging winds, and damaging hail. In particular, a corridor from eastern Iowa into southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois has been remarkably active.
National Reports
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| Total number of tornado, damaging winds, and damaging hail reports across the United States from 1/1/2026 to 4/19/2026. Link to data. |
National Tornado Reports
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| Total number of tornado reports across the United States from 1/1/2026 to 4/19/2026. Link to data. |
National Hail Reports
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| Total number of damaging hail reports across the United States from 1/1/2026 to 4/19/2026. Link to data. |
National Wind Reports
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| Total number of damaging wind reports across the United States from 1/1/2026 to 4/19/2026. Link to data. |
Selected Severe Weather Days Locally
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SPC Outlooks and Watches
SPC Severe Weather Outlook Days
The Storm Prediction Center has outlooked at last part of the NWS Chicago forecast for severe weather 15 days so far in 2026, including an unusual number of days at a Level 3 out of 5 (Enhanced) or higher. Typically, our area sees 4 to 8 days with an outlook for severe weather through the end of April.
NWS Chicago | January 1 - April 19, 2026
| SPC Outlook Category | Number of Days |
| Level 1/5 (Marginal) or higher | 15 |
| Level 2/5 (Slight) or higher | 10 |
| Level 3/5 (Enhanced) or higher | 5 |
| Level 4/5 (Moderate) or higher | 1 |
| Level 5/5 (High) | 0 |
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| Calendar of maximum SPC Day 1 outlook categories impacting the NWS Chicago forecast area from January 1 to April 19, 2026. Image courtesy of the Iowa Environmental Mesonet. |
Selected Severe Weather Outlooks across the NWS Chicago Forecast Area:
(Click on image to go to SPC event archive)
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Severe Thunderstorm and Tornado Watches
There have also been an unusually high number of Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm watches issued for our area so far in 2026. From January 1 to April 19, there have been 8 Severe Thunderstorm and 6 Tornado Watches that included at least one county in the NWS Chicago forecast area, making for a total of 14 convective watches.
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| Number of Tornado Watches issued by county across the United States from January 1 to April 19, 2026. This map does not include local watch extensions. | Number of Severe Thunderstorm Watches issued by county across the United States from January 1 to April 19, 2026. This map does not include local watch extensions. |
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| Number of distinct Severe Thunderstorm and Tornado Watches that included at least one county in the NWS Chicago Forecast Area from January 1 to April 19, 2026. Data courtesy of the Iowa Environmental Mesonet. |
Local Warnings
Severe Thunderstorm and Tornado Warnings
As of April 19, NWS Chicago has issued 128 Severe Thunderstorm and Tornado Warnings. This is a record high number through April 19!
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| Number of accumulated Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Warnings issued by NWS Chicago by calendar year. Data for 2026 is through April 19. |
Confirmed Tornadoes
As of April 19, there have been at least 20 tornadoes in the NWS Chicago forecast area. The typical number of tornadoes in an entire calendar year is between 10 and 20!
Note: Three (3) EF-1 tornadoes crossed into our area of responsibility and do not display in the tornado count in the dashboard below.
Select a tornado from the table to zoom into the track and view more information. The default table view is limited to 8 tracks, but can be scrolled by a mouse wheel or dynamically expanded. Additionally, the table can fill the entire window by clicking the small circular expanding arrow icon at the very top right of the table and returned to its original size by clicking the button again. The side information panel that opens over the map can be closed using the "X" on the upper right corner of the pop-up. Zoom into the map and click damage points to see detailed information and pictures from the surveys.
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NOTE: Times shown below are local to your device's time zone. |
The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:
| EF0 Weak 65-85 mph |
EF1 Moderate 86-110 mph |
EF2 Significant 111-135 mph |
EF3 Severe 136-165 mph |
EF4 Extreme 166-200 mph |
EF5 Catastrophic 200+ mph |
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| Tornadoes that fail to impact any ratable damage indicators on the EF-Scale are rated EF-Unknown (EF-U) | |||||
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Media use of NWS Web News Stories is encouraged! Please acknowledge the NWS as the source of any news information accessed from this site. Additional event recaps can be found on the NWS Chicago Past Events Page |
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