Menard County Hazard Profiles

Hazard	Days with reports, 1996–2025	Years with at least one	Injuries*	Property damage entered*
Thunderstorm wind	80	26/30	4	$948K
Hail	53	23/30	0	$0
Tornado	10	10/30	1	$12.5M
Flooding	18	11/30	2	$1.1M
Winter storms	44	20/30	2	$120K
Lightning	1	1/30	0	$50K
High wind (no storm)	12	9/30	0	$37K

Year	Thunderstorm wind	Hail	Tornado	Flooding	Winter storms	Lightning	High wind (no storm)
1996	1	1	1	1	2	0	2
1997	3	2	0	0	6	0	3
1998	8	2	1	0	3	0	1
1999	2	0	1	0	2	0	0
2000	2	2	0	0	0	0	0
2001	5	2	0	0	0	0	0
2002	4	4	0	2	0	0	0
2003	1	4	0	0	1	0	0
2004	5	4	0	1	0	0	0
2005	4	2	0	0	0	0	0
2006	7	3	1	0	2	0	0
2007	1	0	0	0	3	0	1
2008	2	4	0	3	3	0	1
2009	3	2	0	0	0	1	1
2010	4	0	1	3	1	0	0
2011	5	3	1	0	1	0	0
2012	1	2	0	0	1	0	0
2013	3	1	0	0	2	0	0
2014	2	0	0	1	2	0	0
2015	1	2	1	3	2	0	0
2016	3	2	0	1	0	0	1
2017	2	2	0	1	0	0	0
2018	0	2	0	0	1	0	0
2019	3	0	1	1	2	0	1
2020	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2021	3	2	1	0	2	0	0
2022	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
2023	0	2	0	1	0	0	0
2024	1	1	0	0	1	0	0
2025	4	2	1	0	4	0	1

	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Thunderstorm wind			5	10	19	20	10	7	2	3	3	1
Hail	2	2	6	6	16	5	3	7	2	2	2
Tornado				3	2	2	1					2
Flooding		1		2	4	5	1	3	2
Winter storms	18	12	3	1							2	8
Lightning				1
High wind (no storm)			3	3	1				1	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 8 communities, most often Tallula, Athens and Lincns New Salem St.
Extent: The strongest on record is the EF3 of December 31, 2010 near Lincns New Salem St (1 injury). Tornadoes rated F2/EF2 or stronger touched down on 2 separate days.
Previous occurrences: 16 tornadoes on 12 days from 1996 to 2026. The busiest day was June 18, 2025, with 3. Weather Service survey, June 17, 2026: "A tornado touched down in southern Menard County near Hurie Avenue, just east of the community of Loyd. Tree branches were broken off as it tracked southeast through rural areas...reaching the Sangamon County line about 2.5 miles west of State Route 97."
Probability: At least one tornado in 10 of 30 years (33%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 0 deaths, 1 injury, $12.5M in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (4 of 16 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 13 communities, most often Petersburg, Greenview and Athens.
Extent: The highest gust on record is 70 knots (81 mph), estimated on October 5, 1981. 11 reports reached 65 knots (75 mph) or more.
Previous occurrences: 140 reports on 102 days since 1981. June 10, 2026: "Multiple trees were blown down along IL-97 in Petersburg."
Probability: Reports in 26 of 30 years (87%) from 1996 to 2025; about 2.7 damaging-wind days a year.
Recorded losses: 0 deaths, 4 injuries, $948K in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (40 of 140 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 8 communities, most often Petersburg, Athens and Greenview.
Extent: Largest: 2.5 inches on December 8, 1991. 3 reports of 2 inches or more.
Previous occurrences: 80 reports on 63 days since 1981.
Probability: Reports 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 80 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 10 communities, most often Hubley, Petersburg and Lincns New Salem St.
Extent: The costliest entry is May 8, 1996, at $1.0M in property damage.
Previous occurrences: 27 flood, flash-flood and heavy-rain reports since 1996. May 1, 2019: "Heavy rain of 2.50 to 4.00 inches during the early morning hours of May 1st resulted in widespread flooding across much of Menard County. Multiple streets in Petersburg were flooded, and several rural roads were closed …"
Probability: Reports in 11 of 30 years (37%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 0 deaths, 2 injuries, $1.1M in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (4 of 27 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 5 occasions. Zone records rarely give snow or ice totals; the full plan adds station data.
Previous occurrences: 46 zone events from 1996 to 2026: 18 heavy snow, 14 winter storm, 6 winter weather, 5 ice storm, 3 blizzard.
Probability: Events in 20 of 30 years (67%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 0 deaths, 2 injuries, $120K in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (2 of 46 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 1 communities, most often Petersburg.
Extent: 0 deaths and 0 injuries on record.
Previous occurrences: 1 damaging strikes since 2009.
Probability: Damaging strikes in 1 of 30 years (3%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 0 deaths, 0 injuries, $50K in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (1 of 1 report carries 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: 12 zone events since 1996.
Probability: Events in 9 of 30 years (30%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 0 deaths, 0 injuries, $37K in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (3 of 12 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.

Menard County, Illinois
Hazard Profiles

At a glance

How often, year by year

When in the year

Tornado tracks, 1996–2026

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
Petersburg	39	29	3	1	1	73
Athens	14	19	2	3		38
Greenview	23	8	1	1		33
Tallula	9	6	2	4		21
Oakford	10	7	2			19
Atterberry	4	2	2	2		10
Lincns New Salem St	4	1	3	2		10
Sweet Water	6		1			7
Hubley	1		5			6
Fancy Prairie	1	1	2	1		5
Culver	3			2		5
Tice	1					1
Curtis	1					1