Not the leader yet and not anywhere close to "factor of 2" also the effects of el nino this year haven't even started really. It's more of a winter weather phenomenon.

Current tornado count for Illinois: 210 ( as of 8/29 ) Current record holder is Texas: 244 in 2015

However, Texas is big i don't have the math handy but I bet Illinois is well ahead in terms of tornados/square mile. ..maybe that's where your "factor of 2" comes from? Or maybe people affected since most Tornados in Texas don't affect much except maybe fences and powerlines.

I don’t have stats to speak to the validity of their claims, but I think that we parsed their comment in different ways:

- number of “tornadoes due to Niña/Niño“ (my reading)

- “number of tornadoes” (total for the year), with Niña/Niño being why it’s that way (sounds like your reading, since those numbers are the overall)