Illinois has already smashed its record for tornadoes in any year, and it's approaching an all-time U.S. record for any state, amid an active 2026 of severe weather in the Midwest.

Over 200, so far

As of Aug. 12, 203 tornadoes have been confirmed in Illinois so far this year, according to the National Weather Service in Romeoville, Illinois. This tally includes several tornadoes from Tuesday's derecho, one of which hit the south side suburbs of Chicago.

That's by far the most the state has documented in any year in reliable records dating to the 1950s, crushing the previous record of 142 Illinois twisters from 2024.

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It's also more than three times their yearly average of 66 tornadoes, according to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.

(MORE: Chicago area hit twice by same tornado)

US record is in sight

Only one other state has had over 200 tornadoes in any year dating to 1950.

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Texas tallied 244 tornadoes in 2015, the yearly record for any state, according to NOAA's national severe weather archive.

They also had over 200 twisters in 1967 (228), 1982 (202), 1995 (227) and 2007 (205).

Illinois has now topped 200 tornadoes in less than eight months, with one-fifth the land area of Texas, no less.

Not even the notorious tornado states of Kansas, Oklahoma or Alabama have ever tallied so many tornadoes in a year as Illinois in 2026.

And given tornadoes can occur in the Land of Lincoln into the fall and early winter, it's not out of the question that Illinois could threaten the Texas all-time U.S. state record.

Another state smashed its record

Indiana also topped its record tornado count for any year, with 81 confirmed tornadoes as of the time of this article.

That's a record for any full year, topping 72 set in 2011. It's almost triple their yearly average of 31 tornadoes, according to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.

A whopping 58 of those were in June, Indiana's most of any month dating to 1950. Their previous record for any month was 44 tornadoes in June 1990. That's more tornadoes in one month than Oklahoma's preliminary estimate for the entire year so far: 50.

The map below, also from the Storm Prediction Center, shows how frequently targeted this part of the Midwest has been this year, compared to the typically active Deep South and Southern Plains.

Why so many?

This spring and early summer, a persistent pattern was in place featuring a sharp southward plunge of the jet stream swinging into the Midwest, tapping warm and humid air. This is the classic signature for outbreaks of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.

This warm, humid air was unusually persistent in the Midwest. It was the record warmest April and third warmest spring in Illinois dating to 1895, according to NOAA.

In recent weeks, that jet stream has taken more of a subtle plunge over the Midwest. This "northwest flow," as meteorologists call it, can set up repeating rounds of severe thunderstorms with damaging winds, flooding rain, and tornadoes.

Illinois has more tornadoes than you might think

While the number of Illinois tornadoes is extreme this year, Illinois sees more tornadoes each year than you might think.

Over the past 20 years, its yearly average of 66 tornadoes is tied for fifth most of any state with Alabama, behind only Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Mississippi.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.