This Map Shows Illinois’ Worst Spots in Nuclear War

Depending on your age, you may or may not remember the era when there was a real threat of nuclear war with what was then known as the Soviet Union. I thought those days were past, but there is now a renewed sense of dread thanks to new threats by Russian leaders which have led to a map showing at least 50 locations in Illinois that would be targeted in a worst-case scenario.

Before I share what I've found, I want to be clear that I do not and will not live my life in fear and I don't recommend that you do either. While I find these types of maps and data interesting, I don't lose any sleep over whether or not the United States and an enemy like Russia or China will start a thermonuclear war. I also think that thinking that there will be any location in Illinois that's "safe" in the event of a nuclear war to be silly. The truth is that the world as we know it will be gone if even a limited exchange of these apocalyptic weapons takes place.

All that being said, I found this interesting FEMA map shared on the Air Force sub-Reddit of all places. It's a map shared by FEMA many years ago that estimates the targets in two different scenarios. The triangles represent first-strike targets in a "limited" 500 missile exchange while the black dots show targets in a massive 2,000 missile exchange.

Map published by FEMA showing potential US nuclear targets in 2,000 and 500 warhead scenarios. Cannon isn’t on the map!
by inAirForce

Let's zoom in on Illinois. You'll notice that many parts of the state would likely glow in the dark in particular the Chicagoland area and the southwestern part of the state near St. Louis, too.

There are many places in Illinois that would be likely targets that you might not expect especially in central Illinois which is considered a high-priority for any enemy to go after early in a conflict. Back to my original point, there really is no good place to be in a nuclear war. Authorities say that you'd be better off to be directly under any nuclear attack since the blast would vaporize you before your nerves could even register any pain to your brain. What a happy outcome to hope for, right?