Menard County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Menard County: 0.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Claims by ZIP code

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).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the county boundary (or inside the county).
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Dec 31, 2010Tornado$12.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down on the west side of Lake Petersburg at 12:37 PM CST, then tracked northeast over the lake and across Sunny Acres Road, before lifting southeast of the intersection of Tice Road and Illinois 123 at 12:40 PM CST. A total of 29 homes sustained significant structural damage, four of which could not be repaired. Two barns were also destroyed, and nearly 100 houses and a nursing home had minor damage along the path of the tornado. One person was seriously injured when the tornado caused a large tree limb to fall on their automobile, crushing the car and trapping the occupant.

2. May 8, 1996Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Slow moving thunderstorms dumped between 4 and 9 inches of rain over Menard county. All major roads around Petersburg were closed for a few hours (Rt. 97, Rt. 123, and Rt. 29), so the town was isolated for a while. Some roads in the county were washed out and several homes in Athens sustained flood damage (one had a basement wall collapse). No injuries were reported. Road and bridge damage was estimated around $1 million. No private property damage estimate was available.

3. Apr 15, 2011Tornado$450,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down in a field 3 miles northeast of Athens at 625 PM CDT. It tracked northward...damaging the roof of a house, destroying a small garage, and damaging several automobiles. Further north, the tornado knocked two trees down onto a house, doing severe damage to its roof and interior walls. It then tipped over a semi-trailer and damaged several trees before dissipating 4.8 miles north-northeast of Athens at 631 PM CDT.

4. Jun 4, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Downburst thunderstorm winds of 75 to 85 mph produced a path of damage from Sweetwater to approximately 3 miles east of Sweetwater. Numerous trees and tree branches were blown down and several trees were uprooted. In addition, a few homes sustained minor roofing damage, as did several grain bins and farm outbuildings.

5. Feb 1, 2011Blizzard, Menard$90,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Weather observers across Menard County measured 11 to 14 inches of snow. 40 to 50 mph winds accompanied the snow, reducing the visibility to near zero. As a result of the blizzard conditions, travel became nearly impossible across the area.

6. Aug 12, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trees were blown down countywide, as well as, 11 power poles along Route 29 just north of Athens.One tree fell onto a house and truck just north of Petersburg. No injuries were reported. Thousands of acres of corn were flattened, especially in the northern part of the county. Damage to the crops was estimated around $6 million.

7. Jul 12, 2008Flash Flood$65,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High flowing water washed out a bridge and road on the south side of Athens. Parts of IL Route 29 were flooded between IL Route 123 and the town of Athens.

8. Jun 4, 2014Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several tree branches and power lines were blown down.

9. Jun 28, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several utility poles were blown down along North Middletown Blacktop.

10. Jun 27, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Several trees were blown down in Petersburg.

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

112°FJul 14, 1954

All-time low

−24°FFeb 13, 1905

Warmest night

84°F3 times, most recently Jul 26, 1936

Coldest day

−11°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

5.59 inAug 12, 2016

Snowiest day

17.0 inMar 24, 2013

Hottest year

1931mean 57.5°F

Coldest year

1917mean 50.3°F

Wettest year

192654.48 in

Driest year

191422.76 in

Snowiest season

52.1 in1977-78

Station Springfield Abraham Lincoln Ca (USW00093822), 590 ft elevation, 12.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1901 to October 26, 2026; 99.8% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

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).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

Neighbouring counties

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USW00093822.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.