NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Burnham, IL
Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
2 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Burnham, Illinois since 1851, 0 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was an unnamed storm in 1941. Since 1950, 116 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 6 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 2
- Tornadoes
- 116
- EF3 or stronger
- 6
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
39 deaths in all
What the records show for Burnham
None of the 2 tropical systems was at hurricane strength as it passed Burnham; the strongest was an unnamed storm in 1941, a tropical storm with 44 mph winds when its centre passed 48 miles away. The record near Burnham begins with an unnamed storm in 1932; the most recent system was an unnamed storm in 1941. Burnham has more tropical storms and hurricanes within 75 miles than 43% of the 548 Illinois cities on this site. The highest rating among the 116 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4, reached 2 times; the most recent, on June 13, 1976, came within 20 miles. The deadliest, an F4 on April 21, 1967, killed 33 people. Of the 116, 4 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 65 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 23. The most recent tornado was on March 19, 2025. Of the 548 Illinois cities, 63% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Burnham. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 97 times since 1956, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Of the 548 Illinois cities, 51% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Burnham.
Compare Burnham's storm record with another city →
Tropical storms and hurricanes near Burnham
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1941 | Unnamed 1941 stormSep 25 | 48 mi | Tropical storm (44 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1932 | Unnamed 1932 stormSep 3 | 58 mi | Tropical storm (43 mph) | Category 1 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Burnham: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Burnham
By decade
- 2020s41(1 EF3+)
- 2010s12
- 2000s12
- 1990s6(1 EF3+)
- 1980s13
- 1970s10(1 EF3+)
- 1960s13(3 EF3+)
- 1950s9
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 21, 1967 | F4 | 5 mi | 15 mi | 33 / 500 |
| Jun 13, 1976 | F4 | 20 mi | 3.3 mi | 2 / 23 |
| Jun 20, 2021 | EF3 | 17 mi | 17.6 mi | 0 / 11 |
| Mar 27, 1991 | F3 | 16 mi | 15 mi | 0 / 7 |
| Oct 24, 1967 | F3 | 19 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 12, 1965 | F3 | 8 mi | 4.1 mi | 0 / 14 |
| Nov 12, 1965 | F2 | 13 mi | 35.9 mi | 2 / 90 |
| Mar 4, 1961 | F2 | 19 mi | 7.9 mi | 1 / 115 |
| Jul 15, 2024 | EF2 | 13 mi | 34.6 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Nov 17, 2013 | EF2 | 21 mi | 5.21 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 26, 2010 | EF2 | 23 mi | 2.32 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Aug 4, 2008 | EF2 | 10 mi | 2.74 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 116, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Burnham
The Storm Prediction Center has 97 hail reports within 10 miles of Burnham since 1956, made on 60 separate days. Of these, 67 were 1 inch across or larger, and 7 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3 inches (tea cup size), fell on June 28, 1993. The most recent report is from May 7, 2024. May has the most reports, 25.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Burnham
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Chicago Midway Airport 3SW, IL, 13 miles northwest of Burnham at 620 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 33°F and 20°F. May is the wettest at 4.8 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.1 inches; the year adds up to 40.9 inches over 77 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 21 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 108 nights a year. Snowfall averages 38.8 inches a year, most of it in January. That 40.9 inches is more than at 92 of the 146 Illinois stations used on this site (63%). Calumet City, 3 miles south, has its own station (Park Forest, IL): 42.2 inches a year, 1.3 more than here, and a July average high of 84°F against 85°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 33 | 20 | 2.3 | 6 | 12.5 |
| Feb | 37 | 23 | 2.1 | 5 | 10.1 |
| Mar | 48 | 32 | 2.7 | 6 | 5.7 |
| Apr | 60 | 42 | 4.2 | 8 | 1.0 |
| May | 72 | 52 | 4.8 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 81 | 63 | 4.5 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 85 | 68 | 4.0 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 83 | 67 | 4.1 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 77 | 59 | 3.3 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 64 | 47 | 3.9 | 7 | 0.1 |
| Nov | 50 | 35 | 2.7 | 6 | 1.5 |
| Dec | 38 | 25 | 2.3 | 5 | 7.9 |
| Year | 61 | 44 | 40.9 | 77 | 38.8 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Chicago Midway Airport 3SW, IL (620 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Burnham
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 379 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Burnham: 283 thunderstorm wind reports, 50 floods, 42 flash floods, 3 heavy rain events and 1 lightning strike. They killed 2 people and injured 4, and the NWS estimated $632.8 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 98 mph, on August 15, 2007. Of the 547 Illinois cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 457 have had fewer than Burnham.
September 13, 2008: flash flood 5 miles from the centre of Burnham — 1 killed, $35.0 million damage.
August 10, 2020: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Burnham — 1 killed.
August 10, 2020: thunderstorm wind 6 miles from the centre of Burnham — 1 injured.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Flood insurance policyholders in Burnham's ZIP code 60633 have filed 25 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $26,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 32% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 320 Illinois cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 93 have fewer than Burnham.
Cook County, which includes Burnham, has been named in 24 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1967, 19 of them major disasters (by incident: 8 floods, 8 severe storms, 4 snowstorms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Floodng, on September 20, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Cook County a Very High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for tornadoes, inland flooding, strong wind, lightning and heat waves; Relatively High for hail; Relatively Low for coastal flooding; Very Low for hurricanes. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $2.42 billion a year, the highest of 102 Illinois counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $1.10 billion (45%), is from inland flooding.
Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.