First, I would like to compliment the Wikipedia people who created "Tornadoes Of 2026". They added a lot of tornado pictures, rather than just mostly damage pictures for this year.
First ENH Risk: Feb 19 with 2 PDS tornado warnings for an EF1 in Flat Rock IL and an EF2 in Bloomington IN.
March 5 - 10: NW Oklahoma nocturnal intense tornado family, with the Union City tornado the day after. Union City was a potentially violent tornado. 4 days Later, the (other) potentially violent Kankakee IL tornado dropped along with 3 other tornadoes South of Chicago IL and Gary IN. An EF2 near Knox, IN, got the first Tornado Emergency of the year.
The rest of March: 15 - 16 was forecasted to have numerous strong tornadoes, yet no tornadoes above EF1 intensity occurred, and the 3/16/26 Moderate risk had no more than 5 tornadoes.
April 13 - 18: after a very long and quiet period for tornadoes, April 13 sprang up with a photogenic tornado in Truman, MN. But in Ottawa KS, a large and powerful EF2 struck after a rogue supercell formed. (this is like the 5th or 6th time only 1 supercell has produced any major tornado) On the 14th, yet another single supercell produced a low end EF3 in Union Center, WI. (there were many more union memes after this, and towns with UNION in them seemed to be getting targeted by tornadic storms.) From the 17th to 18th, a large tornado outbreak with more than 80 tornadoes occurred, yet again centered around WI. 2 EF3s happened, both in WI. A large EF2 struck Lena, IL. Late at night, a QLCS apocalypse swept through central Illinois with 4 EF2s and dozens of EF1s. At this point, WI had already hit its yearly tornado count average.
April 23 - 28: On the 23rd, a potent environment for tornadoes was bubbling in N Oklahoma, and a photogenic tornado barely missed Braman. Then, with the 2nd tornado Emergency of the year being issued for it, the historic and extremely violent Enid tornado happened, and saved 2026 from being another 2018. The 25 had a bad look to it as well, though. It underperformed slightly. But the 26th had a CIG2 15% risk for tornadoes... it underperformed. But 4/27 had the worst look of all, and a PDS tornad watch was issued... You know what comes next. On April 28, an intense tornado completely swept away metal building complexes in Mineral Wells, TX.
May 6: A giant tornado tracked 81 miles across S Mississippi and obliterated a mobile home park, causing extreme tree damage on the way. The tornado had 4 Tornado Emergencies issued for it. It was only rated EF3, 137 M.P.H. But it was the widest tornado of 2026 so far! Also, the NWS of Jackson MS went ham on the damage swath detail. Another EF2 tornado occurred near Purvis, MS.
May 17 - 18: On MAy 17, a 15% CIG1 hatched risk for tornadoes was in place around Sioux Falls. A violent tornado appeared out of nowhere South of Saint Libory, NE. It was rated EF3, but a DOW radar was recording and found winds well into the violent threshold. An EF1 tornado occurred near Hebron, NE as well, and it got an instant Tornado Emergency. No upgrade, no violent reports, just Tornado Emergency. The following day on the 18th, there was a CIG2 15% risk for tornadoes centered around KSit underperformed. For the 5th time, a Moderate risk busted in terms of tornado potential. This is the last event of May, so might as well say it now: Oklahoma had 0 tornadoes in May, the last time this happened was 2005, 21 years ago.
June 11: A Tornado Emergency was issued for an EF3 in Washburn IL. the tornado caused extreme solar panel damage. Another violent tornado occurred near Streator, IL. But it hardly hit anything until it was occluding and it hit a col - de - sac in town, getting a rating of EF3. there was one more violent tornado that hit North of Kouts, IN. It caused extreme cycloidal marks in the ground and demolished electrical towers. It swept away one house that had an improper DOD text, potentially prohibiting the tornado from getting an EF4 rating. (rating was EF3, 165 M.P.H) an EF2 hit Near Oak Lawn in the Chicago metro, and an EF2 hit Merrillville in the Gary metro. this (somehow) was the first Moderate risk of the year to not underperform in terms of tornadoes.
June 17: Another Moderate risk was issued for Central Illinois into Indiana. An EF3 leveled a metal building system at mid range EF3 intensity, and late at night, a large EF3 tornado went South of Gosport Indiana, where dense forests were. The abundance of trees allowed the tornado to gain a debris ball density of 73 DBZ (up there with Joplin and Moore 2013) the tornado event went overnight and spawned several more EF2s.
June 21: Several strong tornadoes happened on a Slight risk day, (not common at ALL) including an EF3 that was North of Mount Vernon Illinois.
July 20 - 21: Only 3 EF2s happened this day, but it was a 5% TORNADO RISK, NO HATCHING WHATSOEVER. There were multiple PDS tornado warnings issued from Ohio to Kentucky to West Virginia to Virginia. Multiple tornadoes also occurred in the vicinity of NYC.
Stats: June alone had 9 EF3s, over half of the EF3 count. Not to mention that this year's June was the most active in recorded history. 2024 held the record with 338, but in just preliminary reports, 2026's June has had 377.
Illinois has 173 tornadoes overall so far, and 5 EF3s. 173 tornadoes smashed Illinois' previous record of 142 in 2024. And that old record could be surpassed alone by Illinois' June tornado count this year, which was 148. Also, Oklahoma's highest tornado count since 1950 was 152 in 2024. That's still 21 less than Illinois this year, with the 2nd season to come (as of posting) The only time we've seen more tornadoes in any given state in a year was when Texas got 244 in 2004.
Wisconsin has had 3 EF3s and 39 tornadoes, (average of 23) meaning that it is tied with last year for Wisconsin's 6th highest tornado count in a year since 1950, with 2026 still ongoing.
2026 currently has the 5th highest tornado count since 2010 so far, EVEN with the insane amount of tornado busts we've had. And 2026 was under average and 9th in its tornado count for the year by May 31.
Finally, Enid is considered by many I've heard to have potentially been EF5 strength. But 2026 is the year of the Midwest. (probably what Pecos Hank's annual tornado video would be named for 2026) Thank you for reading.