Illinois Slammed by 8 Tornadoes this Week, NWS Reports

It's been a stormy week in Illinois with nearly every weather variation experienced. You can add tornadoes to that list as the National Weather Service says 8 twisters are confirmed in the state this week.

I was genuinely surprised when I saw the National Weather Service in St. Louis, Missouri share a map revealing that their survey teams had confirmed 8 tornadoes on the Illinois side of the river on Sunday, March 15, 2026.

In case you can't see the text of their message, here's what the NWS in St. Louis said:

"8 total tornadoes have now been surveyed from the March 15th severe weather event. Seven tornadoes were preliminarily rated EF1 while another was EF0. Thank you to all of the county officials and members of the public for all of your reports the past couple of days!"

There were legitimate questions about the tornadoes that struck just to the northeast of the St. Louis area in regards to whether that was one tornado that dropped, lifted and touched down in multiple locations or if really was 4 separate tornadoes. I don't question the NWS survey teams, but it's a valid question.

The good news is that none of the tornadoes were very strong, but every tornado has the ability to do big damage. Many places in Illinois were very fortunate that the storms didn't end up being quite as strong as initially thought.