NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Lake Villa, 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
1 tropical system has passed within 75 miles of Lake Villa, Illinois since 1851, 0 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was an unnamed storm in 1900. Since 1950, 80 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 6 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 1
- Tornadoes
- 80
- EF3 or stronger
- 6
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
33 deaths in all
What the records show for Lake Villa
None of the 1 tropical systems was at hurricane strength as it passed Lake Villa; the strongest was an unnamed storm in 1900, a tropical storm with 59 mph winds when its centre passed 19 miles away. Of the 548 Illinois cities on this site, 57% have more tropical storms and hurricanes within 75 miles than Lake Villa. The highest rating among the 80 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4, reached 4 times; the most recent, on September 28, 1972, came within 12 miles. The deadliest, an F4 on April 21, 1967, killed 24 people. Of the 80, 9 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 35 have come since 2000. June has had the most tornadoes, 19. The most recent tornado was on June 22, 2024. Of the 548 Illinois cities, 93% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Lake Villa. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 91 times since 1963, with stones up to 2.5 inches (tennis ball size). Of the 548 Illinois cities, 53% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Lake Villa.
Compare Lake Villa's storm record with another city →
Tropical storms and hurricanes near Lake Villa
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | Unnamed 1900 stormSep 11 | 19 mi | Tropical storm (59 mph) | Category 4 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Lake Villa: 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 Lake Villa
By decade
- 2020s15
- 2010s12
- 2000s8(1 EF3+)
- 1990s8
- 1980s3
- 1970s14(1 EF3+)
- 1960s13(4 EF3+)
- 1950s7
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 21, 1967 | F4 | 20 mi | 25.5 mi | 24 / 450 |
| Apr 11, 1965 | F4 | 11 mi | 9.1 mi | 6 / 75 |
| Apr 21, 1967 | F4 | 13 mi | 8.8 mi | 1 / 100 |
| Sep 28, 1972 | F4 | 12 mi | 5.2 mi | 0 / 20 |
| Jan 7, 2008 | EF3 | 14 mi | 10.78 mi | 0 / 15 |
| Jul 19, 1963 | F3 | 15 mi | 10.6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 9, 1966 | F2 | 22 mi | 2.5 mi | 1 / 30 |
| Oct 8, 1958 | F2 | 2 mi | 81 mi | 1 / 0 |
| May 18, 1997 | F2 | in town | 6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 19, 1996 | F2 | 12 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Aug 15, 1978 | F2 | 23 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 20, 1976 | F2 | 12 mi | 0.8 mi | 0 / 2 |
The strongest 12 of 80, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Lake Villa
The Storm Prediction Center has 91 hail reports within 10 miles of Lake Villa since 1963, made on 49 separate days. Of these, 57 were 1 inch across or larger, and 7 reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.5 inches (tennis ball size), fell on July 17, 2003. The most recent report is from May 15, 2025. April has the most reports, 20.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Lake Villa
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Lake Villa 2NE, IL, 1 mile north of Lake Villa at 840 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 82°F and low of 63°F; January is the coolest, at 30°F and 15°F. May is the wettest at 4.4 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 1.9 inches; the year adds up to 37.7 inches over 67 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 10 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 132 nights a year. Snowfall averages 43.4 inches a year, most of it in January. That 37.7 inches is more than at 26 of the 146 Illinois stations used on this site (18%). Grayslake, 5 miles south, has its own station (Mundelein 4 WSW, IL): 38.6 inches a year, 0.9 more than here, and the same July average high, 82°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 30 | 15 | 2.1 | 6 | 15.7 |
| Feb | 34 | 18 | 1.9 | 4 | 8.0 |
| Mar | 45 | 27 | 2.6 | 5 | 5.8 |
| Apr | 57 | 37 | 4.1 | 7 | 1.5 |
| May | 69 | 48 | 4.4 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 78 | 58 | 4.2 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 82 | 63 | 3.9 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 81 | 62 | 3.3 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 73 | 54 | 3.4 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 60 | 43 | 3.0 | 5 | 0.1 |
| Nov | 47 | 31 | 2.5 | 6 | 3.1 |
| Dec | 35 | 21 | 2.3 | 4 | 9.2 |
| Year | 58 | 40 | 37.7 | 67 | 43.4 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Lake Villa 2NE, IL (840 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 Lake Villa
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 190 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Lake Villa: 146 thunderstorm wind reports, 17 floods, 16 flash floods, 6 heavy rain events and 5 lightning strikes. They killed 0 people and injured 11, and the NWS estimated $11.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 85 mph, on June 18, 2007. May has had the most flash floods, 6 of 16. Of the 547 Illinois cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 263 have had fewer than Lake Villa.
July 21, 1998: thunderstorm wind 6 miles from the centre of Lake Villa — 3 injured.
September 20, 2018: lightning strike 2 miles from the centre of Lake Villa — 3 injured.
NWS: “Three students standing at a bus stop waiting for their school bus were struck by lightning. All three were transported to a medical center with non-life threatening injuries.”
April 19, 1996: thunderstorm wind 6 miles from the centre of Lake Villa — 2 injured, $5.0 million damage.
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 Lake Villa's ZIP code 60046 have filed 41 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $412,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 20% 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, 140 have fewer than Lake Villa.
Lake County, which includes Lake Villa, has been named in 17 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 11 of them major disasters (by incident: 5 snowstorms, 4 floods, 3 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on March 26, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Lake County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for tornadoes and strong wind; Relatively High for inland flooding and lightning; Relatively Moderate for hail and heat waves; Very Low for hurricanes and coastal flooding. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $266.5 million a year, the 4th highest of 102 Illinois counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $155.5 million (58%), 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.