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
Flooding	107	29/30	3	0	$22.7M
Tornado	31	19/30	30	373	$321.2M
Lightning	30	16/30	3	4	$1.5M
Winter storms	59	21/30	1	0	$750K
High wind (no storm)	25	18/30	0	0	$114K

Year	Thunderstorm wind	Hail	Flooding	Tornado	Lightning	Winter storms
1996	5	6	1	0	0	0
1997	5	2	1	1	0	3
1998	6	0	2	0	0	0
1999	3	3	2	0	0	2
2000	4	3	1	0	1	3
2001	7	1	1	1	0	0
2002	1	1	0	0	1	2
2003	11	11	2	1	0	1
2004	7	7	5	1	3	1
2005	5	3	4	0	0	3
2006	9	10	6	0	4	2
2007	13	4	8	2	1	6
2008	5	4	6	2	1	6
2009	7	1	5	0	2	2
2010	9	7	4	1	4	3
2011	4	11	2	0	3	1
2012	4	11	1	0	2	2
2013	6	8	3	1	2	1
2014	6	3	1	1	0	7
2015	4	3	4	4	0	3
2016	3	2	1	0	1	2
2017	10	7	4	1	0	0
2018	4	0	2	2	1	3
2019	8	8	11	2	0	5
2020	12	2	7	2	1	1
2021	6	0	6	3	1	0
2022	7	1	3	1	0	0
2023	5	6	2	3	0	0
2024	10	5	6	1	0	0
2025	8	2	6	1	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
Flooding	5	10	6	9	15	22	14	15	5	6
Tornado	1	1	2	2	3	8	4	6	1	2	1
Lightning			2	1	8	7	6	5	1
Winter storms	19	17	5							1	2	15
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 from EF0 to EF5 by the damage it leaves.
Location: Countywide. Tracks on the map below run from the Plainfield and Bolingbrook suburbs to the farmland around Wilmington, Manhattan and Peotone; damage concentrates where tracks meet buildings.
Extent: The worst recorded is the F5 of August 28, 1990 through Plainfield and Crest Hill: 29 deaths, 350 injuries and $250M in damage as entered at the time. F2 or EF2 tornadoes struck on 7 separate days since 1988.
Previous occurrences: 81 tornadoes on 46 days from 1982 to 2025. Seven touched down on July 15, 2024 alone, including an EF2 that ran 24.9 miles past Channahon. National Weather Service survey: "A tornado with estimated peak winds of 80 mph touched down in Kendall County and crossed into Will County between Caton Farm Road and Desert Drive. The tornado produced sporadic tree damage north of Caton Farm Road, then crossed Route 59 and produced quite a bit of tree damage on Arbor Creek Drive. …"
Probability: At least one tornado in 19 of 30 years (63%) from 1996 to 2025. Seven of the 81 came in the July 15, 2024 outbreak, so counts per year are lumpy.
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 follow population, so Plainfield, Joliet, Romeoville and Bolingbrook lead the community table.
Extent: Estimated gusts reached 83 knots (96 mph) near Plainfield's Clow Airport on Aug 4, 2008 and in Shorewood and Joliet on May 23, 2020. 46 reports were 65 knots (75 mph) or more.
Previous occurrences: 552 reports on 219 days since 1980. May 23, 2020 in Shorewood: "At least two dozen large trees were blown down, including some snapped in a residential area in Shorewood near Seil Road. This included large trees blown down along the DuPage River. The tree damage was concentrated and intense with all trees laying in an …"
Probability: Reports in 30 of 30 years (100%); 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, with most reports from the populated northern and central townships.
Extent: Largest: 3.0 inches at Bolingbrook on 2026-03-10. 7 reports of 2 inches or more.
Previous occurrences: 341 reports since 1981. On March 10, 2026: "A handful of hail reports in the vicinity of Bolingbrook's Clow Airport ranged in size from 1.5 to 2.5 inches."
Probability: Reports in 27 of 30 years (90%).
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 on the Des Plaines, DuPage and Kankakee rivers and their tributaries, and flash flooding when heavy rain overwhelms streets and small streams.
Location: Along the DuPage and Des Plaines rivers and in low urban streets; flash floods reported countywide.
Extent: The July 17, 1996 flash flood is the deadliest on record here (2 deaths). The July 27, 2003 flash flood in the north-central county was entered at $14M in damage.
Previous occurrences: 182 flood, flash-flood and heavy-rain reports since 1996, with 3 deaths. On Feb 20, 2018: "A 52 year old woman drown inside a car that was found submerged in a flooded ditch."
Probability: Reports in 29 of 30 years (97%).
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 and sleet, recorded by forecast zone rather than by point.
Location: Countywide (zone records).
Extent: The Groundhog Day blizzard of Feb 1–2, 2011 is in the record; NOAA's zone entries rarely give snow totals, so a full plan adds station snowfall.
Previous occurrences: 59 zone events from 1997 to 2020.
Probability: Events in 21 of 30 years (70%).
Recorded losses: 1 deaths, 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: Wherever people and structures are; the three recorded deaths were on residential streets and in a forest preserve.
Extent: Three deaths (2016, 2018, 2021) and four injuries since 2000.
Previous occurrences: 41 damaging strikes. July 28, 2021: "Lightning struck a house in the 700 block of Miami Street and started a fire. An 85 year old man in the house was unable to get out and died of smoke inhalation."
Probability: Damaging strikes in 16 of 30 years (53%).
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).

Not in this record

Extreme heat, extreme cold, drought, earthquake and dam failure have no Will County entries in the storm database. The full chapter profiles them from NOAA climate normals, the U.S. Drought Monitor, USGS shaking maps and state dam-safety inventories, 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

Not in this record

Previous occurrences by community

What this sample 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	56	39	9	5	4	113
Joliet	34	24	15	3	11	87
Romeoville	28	28	7			63
Lockport	32	23	4	2	2	63
Bolingbrook	32	18	8	2	2	62
Peotone	27	11	6	3		47
New Lenox	24	10	7	1	1	43
Crete	18	15	6	1		40
Wilmington	13	15	4	1	1	34
Manhattan	20	7	3	4		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	6	3		1	21
Crystal Lawns	11	4	5			20