NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Mt Zion, 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 October 26, 2026

3 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Mt Zion, Illinois since 1851, 0 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ike in 2008. Since 1950, 167 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 6 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes: 0
Tropical storms: 3
Tornadoes: 167
EF3 or stronger: 6

What the records show for Mt Zion

None of the 3 tropical systems was at hurricane strength as it passed Mt Zion; the strongest was Ike in 2008, a tropical storm with 54 mph winds when its centre passed 34 miles away. The record near Mt Zion begins with an unnamed storm in 1902; the most recent system was Ike in 2008. Mt Zion has more tropical storms and hurricanes within 75 miles than 62% of the 548 Illinois cities on this site. The strongest of the 167 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F4 on March 20, 1976; its path came within 4 miles. The deadliest, an F1 on April 8, 1999, killed 1 person. Of the 167, 10 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 97 have come since 2000. April has had the most tornadoes, 47. The most recent tornado was on December 28, 2025. Mt Zion has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 72% of the 548 Illinois cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 104 times since 1960, with stones up to 3.5 inches. Mt Zion has more hail reports within 10 miles than 51% of the 548 Illinois cities.

Compare Mt Zion's storm record with another city →

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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Mt Zion

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Mt Zion, Illinois, newest first
Year	Storm	Closest	Strength when closest	Peak
2008	IkeSep 14	34 mi	Tropical storm (54 mph)	Category 4
1941	Unnamed 1941 stormSep 25	42 mi	Tropical storm (41 mph)	Category 3
1902	Unnamed 1902 stormJun 28	24 mi	Tropical storm (40 mph)	Category 1

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Mt Zion: 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 Mt Zion

By decade

2020s30
2010s30
2000s37
1990s26(1 EF3+)
1980s8
1970s24(2 EF3+)
1960s5(2 EF3+)
1950s7(1 EF3+)

Strongest tornadoes near Mt Zion, Illinois
Date	Rating	Distance	Path	Killed / injured
Mar 20, 1976	F4	4 mi	63.7 mi	0 / 18
Apr 3, 1974	F3	8 mi	20.9 mi	1 / 26
Apr 22, 1963	F3	10 mi	42.9 mi	1 / 5
Apr 19, 1996	F3	8 mi	14.5 mi	0 / 29
Apr 22, 1963	F3	14 mi	31.8 mi	0 / 5
Jun 27, 1951	F3	13 mi	9.6 mi	0 / 35
Dec 28, 2025	EF2	in town	23.36 mi	0 / 0
Mar 14, 2025	EF2	14 mi	12.56 mi	0 / 0
Aug 6, 2023	EF2	19 mi	25.31 mi	0 / 0
Mar 31, 2023	EF2	20 mi	21.01 mi	0 / 0
Dec 1, 2018	EF2	15 mi	8.39 mi	0 / 0
Oct 13, 2014	EF2	2 mi	10 mi	0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 167, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Mt Zion

The Storm Prediction Center has 104 hail reports within 10 miles of Mt Zion since 1960, made on 68 separate days. Of these, 62 were 1 inch across or larger, and 5 reached 2 inches. The largest size, 3.5 inches, was reported on 2 days, most recently June 23, 1960. The most recent report is from November 18, 2025. April has the most reports, 23.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.

Weather by month in Mt Zion

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Decatur Airport, IL, 4 miles north of Mt Zion at 675 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 66°F; January is the coolest, at 35°F and 20°F. May and June are the wettest at 4.4 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 1.8 inches; the year adds up to 36.4 inches over 66 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 27 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 113 nights a year. That 36.4 inches is more than at 8 of the 146 Illinois stations used on this site (5%). Decatur, 7 miles northwest, has its own station (Decatur Wtp, IL): 40.4 inches a year, 4.0 more than here, and a July average high of 85°F against 86°F.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Decatur Airport, IL
Month	High °F	Low °F	Precip. in	Days ≥ 0.1"
Jan	35	20	2.0	4
Feb	40	23	1.8	4
Mar	52	32	2.5	6
Apr	64	42	3.7	7
May	74	53	4.4	8
Jun	83	62	4.4	7
Jul	86	66	3.3	6
Aug	84	63	3.0	5
Sep	79	55	3.0	5
Oct	66	44	3.2	6
Nov	51	34	3.0	5
Dec	40	25	2.1	5
Year	63	43	36.4	66

Averages for 1991–2020 at Decatur Airport, IL (675 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.

Illinois weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Mt Zion

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 145 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Mt Zion: 121 thunderstorm wind reports, 19 flash floods, 4 floods and 1 lightning strike. They killed 0 people and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $2.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 109 mph, on April 16, 2006. May has had the most flash floods, 4 of 19. Of the 547 Illinois cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 303 have had fewer than Mt Zion.

November 10, 1998: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Mt Zion — 1 injured.
May 16, 2025: thunderstorm wind 4 miles from the centre of Mt Zion — 1 injured.
June 29, 1998: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Mt Zion — $500,000 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

Macon County, which includes Mt Zion, has been named in 11 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1974, 8 of them major disasters (by incident: 2 biological emergencies, 2 floods, 2 severe storms, 2 tornadoes). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms and Flooding, on August 15, 2023. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Macon County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for strong wind; Relatively Moderate for tornadoes, hail, inland flooding, lightning and heat waves; Very Low for hurricanes. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $47.0 million a year, the 22nd highest of 102 Illinois counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $21.4 million (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.

Cities near Mt Zion

All Illinois cities →All hurricanes since 1851 →Compare Mt Zion with another place →

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