Livingston County Hazard Profiles

Hazard	Days with reports, 1996–2025	Years with at least one	Deaths*	Injuries*	Property damage entered*
Thunderstorm wind	93	30/30	0	1	$238K
Hail	54	22/30	0	0	$0
Tornado	20	15/30	1	17	$9.6M
Flooding	42	22/30	2	0	$2.3M
Winter storms	64	23/30	0	0	$0
Lightning	3	3/30	1	0	$2K
High wind (no storm)	19	16/30	0	0	$31K

Year	Thunderstorm wind	Hail	Tornado	Flooding	Winter storms	Lightning	High wind (no storm)
1996	3	1	0	0	0	0	1
1997	3	0	0	0	2	0	2
1998	2	2	0	2	1	0	1
1999	2	0	0	0	2	0	0
2000	4	3	2	0	3	0	0
2001	3	2	0	3	0	0	1
2002	1	0	1	2	2	0	1
2003	5	5	0	0	1	0	3
2004	2	5	2	1	0	0	1
2005	3	3	0	1	1	0	0
2006	3	6	1	4	2	0	0
2007	1	0	0	3	4	0	0
2008	5	2	2	2	4	0	0
2009	3	1	1	2	1	0	1
2010	4	0	2	0	4	1	1
2011	5	2	0	1	1	0	0
2012	4	4	0	0	0	0	1
2013	4	0	1	2	3	0	0
2014	1	3	0	1	5	1	1
2015	1	1	1	3	2	0	0
2016	3	1	1	2	0	1	1
2017	3	2	1	1	0	0	1
2018	1	0	0	1	2	0	0
2019	2	2	0	1	3	0	0
2020	8	2	0	4	1	0	0
2021	3	1	1	2	5	0	1
2022	4	3	0	1	6	0	1
2023	1	2	1	0	0	0	0
2024	3	0	2	1	3	0	1
2025	6	1	1	2	6	0	0

	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Thunderstorm wind	2		5	6	21	19	19	10	2	4	1	4
Hail	1		4	11	17	6	6	5	4
Tornado		1	2	1	5	6	2	1			1	1
Flooding	3		1	3	8	9	8	6	3			1
Winter storms	19	19	6							1	2	17
Lightning							1	2
High wind (no storm)		3	6	3	1	2			1		2	1

Hazard profiles

Each profile answers FEMA's questions for hazard identification: what it is, where, how bad (extent), what has happened, and how likely it is to happen again.

Tornado

Description: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground, rated after the fact on the Fujita scale (through January 2007) or the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 to EF5, by the damage it leaves.
Location: Countywide; tornado reports name 24 communities, most often Pontiac, Long Point and Chatsworth.
Extent: The strongest on record is the EF3 of June 5, 2010 near Missal. The deadliest was June 5, 2010 (1 death). Tornadoes rated F2/EF2 or stronger touched down on 8 separate days.
Previous occurrences: 48 tornadoes on 27 days from 1980 to 2026. The busiest day was June 5, 2010, with 5. Weather Service survey, June 11, 2026: "A tornado with estimated peak winds of 105 mph touched down along County Road E 2200 North, west of Route 23. The tornado may not have been fully condensed to the ground or consisted of intermittent touchdowns along the first two thirds of the path where only minor tree damage …"
Probability: At least one tornado in 15 of 30 years (50%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 1 death, 17 injuries, $9.6M in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (14 of 48 reports carry a dollar figure).

Severe thunderstorm wind

Description: Straight-line winds from thunderstorms, including downbursts, measured or estimated at 58 mph (50 knots) or more.
Location: Countywide; reports name 27 communities, most often Pontiac, Dwight and Fairbury.
Extent: The highest gust on record is 70 knots (81 mph), estimated on August 27, 1983. 10 reports reached 65 knots (75 mph) or more.
Previous occurrences: 178 reports on 114 days since 1981. December 28, 2025: "A NWS damage survey confirmed a concentrated area of straight line winds with estimated peak winds of 80 mph occurred in and west of Forrest. These strong winds blew off a portion of the roof of a junior high school gymnasium. Numerous …"
Probability: Reports in 30 of 30 years (100%) from 1996 to 2025; about 3.1 damaging-wind days a year.
Recorded losses: 0 deaths, 1 injury, $238K in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (17 of 178 reports carry a dollar figure).

Hail

Description: Ice stones from thunderstorm updrafts; reported at 3/4 inch and larger in this record.
Location: Countywide; reports name 29 communities, most often Pontiac, Dwight and Chatsworth.
Extent: Largest: 5.5 inches near Campus on March 10, 2026. 13 reports of 2 inches or more.
Previous occurrences: 94 reports on 65 days since 1981.
Probability: Reports in 22 of 30 years (73%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 0 deaths, 0 injuries, $0 in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (0 of 94 reports carry a dollar figure).

Flooding (river, flash and heavy rain)

Description: River flooding, and flash flooding when heavy rain overwhelms streets, ditches and small streams.
Location: Countywide; reports name 23 communities, most often Pontiac, Chatsworth and Dwight.
Extent: The deadliest flood on record was January 8, 2008 (1 death). The costliest entry is January 8, 2008, at $2.0M in property damage.
Previous occurrences: 57 flood, flash-flood and heavy-rain reports since 1998. August 12, 2025: "A private weather station northeast of Pontiac recorded 4.25 of storm total rain from approximately 1 PM through 6:15 PM CST."
Probability: Reports in 22 of 30 years (73%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 2 deaths, 0 injuries, $2.3M in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (3 of 57 reports carry a dollar figure).

Winter storms and ice

Description: Heavy snow, blizzards, ice storms, sleet and lesser winter weather, recorded by forecast zone rather than by point.
Location: Countywide (forecast-zone records).
Extent: Ice storms on 3 occasions. Zone records rarely give snow or ice totals; the full plan adds station data.
Previous occurrences: 67 zone events from 1997 to 2026: 29 winter storm, 20 winter weather, 13 heavy snow, 3 ice storm, 2 blizzard.
Probability: Events in 23 of 30 years (77%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 0 deaths, 0 injuries, $0 in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (0 of 67 reports carry a dollar figure).

Lightning

Description: Cloud-to-ground strikes that injure people, start fires or damage property. Only damaging strikes are recorded.
Location: Countywide; reports name 3 communities, most often Clay, Pontiac and Odell.
Extent: 1 death and 0 injuries on record.
Previous occurrences: 3 damaging strikes since 2010.
Probability: Damaging strikes in 3 of 30 years (10%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 1 death, 0 injuries, $2K in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (2 of 3 reports carry a dollar figure).

High wind (not from thunderstorms)

Description: Strong winds from large storm systems rather than thunderstorms, recorded by forecast zone.
Location: Countywide (forecast-zone records).
Extent: Highest: 60 knots (69 mph).
Previous occurrences: 19 zone events since 1996.
Probability: Events in 16 of 30 years (53%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 0 deaths, 0 injuries, $31K in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (3 of 19 reports carry a dollar figure).

Not covered by this record

Extreme heat, extreme cold, drought, earthquake and dam failure are not in the storm archive this chapter draws on. The full chapter profiles them from NOAA climate records, the U.S. Drought Monitor, USGS shaking maps and the state dam inventory, and the planning team decides which belong in the plan.

Livingston County, Illinois
Hazard Profiles

At a glance

How often, year by year

When in the year

Tornado tracks, 1980–2026

Hazard profiles

Tornado

Severe thunderstorm wind

Hail

Flooding (river, flash and heavy rain)

Winter storms and ice

Lightning

High wind (not from thunderstorms)

Not covered by this record

Previous occurrences by community

What this draft covers, and what the full update adds

Covered here

Added in the full update

Data notes

Nearest community named in the report	Thunderstorm wind	Hail	Flooding	Tornado	Lightning	All
Pontiac	40	12	10	4	1	67
Chatsworth	14	11	8	3		36
Dwight	16	11	4	1		32
Fairbury	16	8	1	2		27
Flanagan	8	4	3	3		18
Odell	6	4	2	1	1	14
Cornell	8	3	1	2		14
Forrest	8	2	1			11
Cullom	6	2		2		10
Long Pt	5	2		2		9
Saunemin		3	3	1		7
Blackstone	1	3	1	2		7
Ancona	2	1		3		6
Rowe	1	1	2	2		6
Long Point	1	1		4		6
Campus	2	3				5
Cayuga	2	1	1	1		5
Manville	1	2		1		4