Will County Hazard Profiles

Hazard	Days with reports, 1996–2025	Years with at least one	Deaths*	Injuries*	Property damage entered*
Thunderstorm wind	194	30/30	0	5	$3.7M
Hail	132	27/30	0	0	$82K
Tornado	31	19/30	30	373	$321.2M
Flooding	107	29/30	3	0	$22.7M
Winter storms	59	21/30	1	0	$750K
Lightning	30	16/30	3	4	$1.5M
High wind (no storm)	25	18/30	0	0	$114K

Year	Thunderstorm wind	Hail	Tornado	Flooding	Winter storms	Lightning	High wind (no storm)
1996	5	6	0	1	0	0	1
1997	5	2	1	1	3	0	3
1998	6	0	0	2	0	0	1
1999	3	3	0	2	2	0	0
2000	4	3	0	1	3	1	0
2001	7	1	1	1	0	0	2
2002	1	1	0	0	2	1	1
2003	11	11	1	2	1	0	2
2004	7	7	1	5	1	3	1
2005	5	3	0	4	3	0	0
2006	9	10	0	6	2	4	0
2007	13	4	2	8	6	1	1
2008	5	4	2	6	6	1	0
2009	7	1	0	5	2	2	0
2010	9	7	1	4	3	4	1
2011	4	11	0	2	1	3	1
2012	4	11	0	1	2	2	0
2013	6	8	1	3	1	2	0
2014	6	3	1	1	7	0	1
2015	4	3	4	4	3	0	2
2016	3	2	0	1	2	1	2
2017	10	7	1	4	0	0	1
2018	4	0	2	2	3	1	1
2019	8	8	2	11	5	0	2
2020	12	2	2	7	1	1	0
2021	6	0	3	6	0	1	0
2022	7	1	1	3	0	0	1
2023	5	6	3	2	0	0	0
2024	10	5	1	6	0	0	1
2025	8	2	1	6	0	2	0

	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Thunderstorm wind	1	2	10	5	27	43	42	39	14	7	4
Hail	2	4	12	18	33	26	16	8	5	5	3
Tornado	1	1	2	2	3	8	4	6	1	2	1
Flooding	5	10	6	9	15	22	14	15	5	6
Winter storms	19	17	5							1	2	15
Lightning			2	1	8	7	6	5	1
High wind (no storm)	1	4	4	3	1	1			2	4	3	2

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 36 communities, most often Plainfield, Manhattan and Beecher.
Extent: The strongest on record is the F5 of August 28, 1990 (29 deaths, 350 injuries). Tornadoes rated F2/EF2 or stronger touched down on 10 separate days.
Previous occurrences: 81 tornadoes on 46 days from 1982 to 2025. The busiest day was July 15, 2024, with 7. Weather Service survey, March 19, 2025: "A tornado touched down near Kings Road south of Richton Road in Steger. This tornado moved east northeast toward Richton Road, where it intensified briefly and caused damage to shingles at multiple houses. Wind speed was estimated up to 80 mph in this area. The tornado continued …"
Probability: At least one tornado in 19 of 30 years (63%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 30 deaths, 373 injuries, $321.2M in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (36 of 81 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 70 communities, most often Plainfield, Joliet and Romeoville.
Extent: The highest gust on record is 83 knots (96 mph), estimated near Plainfield Clow on August 4, 2008. 46 reports reached 65 knots (75 mph) or more.
Previous occurrences: 552 reports on 219 days since 1980. May 23, 2020: "Dozens of large trees were blown down across Joliet including in downtown. There was wind damage to multiple roofs, including much of a roof lifted and thrown from a downtown building. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down. Near …"
Probability: Reports in 30 of 30 years (100%) from 1996 to 2025; about 6.5 damaging-wind days a year.
Recorded losses: 0 deaths, 5 injuries, $3.7M in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (64 of 552 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 59 communities, most often Plainfield, Romeoville and Joliet.
Extent: Largest: 3 inches near Bolingbrook on March 10, 2026. 7 reports of 2 inches or more.
Previous occurrences: 341 reports on 154 days since 1981.
Probability: Reports in 27 of 30 years (90%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 0 deaths, 0 injuries, $82K in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (4 of 341 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 57 communities, most often Joliet, Romeoville and Bolingbrook.
Extent: The deadliest flood on record was July 17, 1996 (2 deaths). The costliest entry is July 27, 2003, at $14.0M in property damage.
Previous occurrences: 182 flood, flash-flood and heavy-rain reports since 1996. June 11, 2026: "Street flooding was reported in Crete. A private weather station measured at total of 2.90 inches of rain during two periods of rainfall over 6 hours ending at 19:00 CST."
Probability: Reports in 29 of 30 years (97%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 3 deaths, 0 injuries, $22.7M in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (16 of 182 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: 59 zone events from 1997 to 2020: 24 winter storm, 19 heavy snow, 7 winter weather, 4 blizzard, 3 ice storm, 1 lake-effect snow, 1 sleet.
Probability: Events in 21 of 30 years (70%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 1 death, 0 injuries, $750K in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (2 of 59 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 24 communities, most often Joliet, Plainfield and Monee.
Extent: 3 deaths and 4 injuries on record.
Previous occurrences: 41 damaging strikes since 2000.
Probability: Damaging strikes in 16 of 30 years (53%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 3 deaths, 4 injuries, $1.5M in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (24 of 41 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: 56 knots (64 mph).
Previous occurrences: 30 zone events since 1996.
Probability: Events in 18 of 30 years (60%) from 1996 to 2025.
Recorded losses: 0 deaths, 0 injuries, $114K in property damage as entered by the Weather Service (9 of 30 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.

Will County, Illinois
Hazard Profiles

At a glance

How often, year by year

When in the year

Tornado tracks, 1982–2025

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
Plainfield	47	33	6	4	3	93
Joliet	36	28	15	3	11	93
Romeoville	28	28	7			63
Bolingbrook	28	12	7	1	2	50
Peotone	27	11	6	3		47
Crete	18	15	6	1		40
New Lenox	21	9	5	1	1	37
Wilmington	13	15	4	1	1	34
Manhattan	20	7	3	4		34
Lockport	15	16	2		1	34
Beecher	18	6	4	3	1	32
Shorewood	13	14	1	3		31
Monee	14	8	4	1	2	29
Mokena	6	14	3	2	1	26
Crest Hill	16	6	3		1	26
Braidwood	15	7		2		24
Frankfort	11	7	4		1	23
Crystal Lawns	11	4	5			20