Illinois tornado count breaks record as storm cleanup continues

Morgan County families have spent much of June watching the sky, and the reason is now in the record books: Illinois has already logged 148 tornadoes in 2026, the highest annual total ever recorded in the state. For Jacksonville-area residents trying to plan around school, work and summer events, the bigger story is not just the number. It is the way repeated severe-weather rounds have kept the region in cleanup mode and left power crews working across central and downstate Illinois.

WLDS reported that the 148 tornadoes surpassed Illinois’ previous annual record of 142, set in 2024. Earlier coverage had already put the state at 145 preliminary tornado reports by June 17, and some reports lifted the count to 164 by June 18, showing how fast the tally was climbing. CBS Chicago noted that Illinois had 121 tornadoes in 2023, 142 in 2024, 126 in 2025 and 148 and counting in 2026, while AccuWeather and CBS Chicago both pointed out that this year’s tornadoes have been spread across March, April, May and June rather than packed into one outbreak.

That spread matters for Morgan County because it means the threat has not passed after one headline storm. Ameren Illinois said more than 1,700 personnel were involved in restoration work after back-to-back storms on June 17, including mutual-assistance crews from Kansas, Tennessee, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Florida and Maryland. The company said its service territory had more than 400 downed power poles and more than 9,000 customers without power in the aftermath, with the heaviest remaining outages centered in the Galesburg, Decatur, Mattoon and Charleston areas.

Ameren Illinois public and media relations manager Brian Bretsch said pole replacement is often the slowest part of restoration because setting a pole can take several hours. Ameren said crews had set 354 new power poles as of June 14, then reported restoring 73,000 customer outages, about 82 percent, by June 18 and 88,000 outages, about 93 percent, by June 19. For businesses, churches and event organizers across Morgan County, that kind of damage is more than an inconvenience. It can interrupt refrigeration, cancel evening gatherings and slow travel on roads that people depend on every day.

The danger also has stayed immediate. In Jefferson County, a tornado touched down after 5 p.m. Sunday, June 21, destroying homes and leaving two people dead and five injured. The National Weather Service has said recent tornado statistics can lag by a few months while reports are finalized, which is why Illinois’ 2026 totals remain preliminary. For now, the clearest message for Morgan County is simple: treat every warning seriously, and report any downed power line at once because it may still be live even if it is not sparking.