Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't believe correlation to*Champaign has anything to do with central Illinois tornadoes. I do not believe Sangamon County has any correlation to McLean County.
What do believe*is McLean, Sangamon and Champaign counties were built in the plains of the Praire State amongst corn fields and that fornadoes form in flat open ground particularly in corn fields due to the high huimidity. .
You said "Sangamon and Champaign being among the largest (and some of the most populous, i.e. more people to spot tornadoes,) counties in that area."
.....Champaign is not in central Illinois. Springfield tornadoes don't track into Champaign any more than it tracks into Peoria County which has a larger population and only 15 tornadoes.
Location, location, location. County size and populatin is not a factor.
It looks like Spfd fornadoes form in Morgan or Christian County and sometimes clip Menard County and move into Logan county. Logan tornadoes move into McLean County and continue on a NE track. Tornadoes can change track if it developes a hook as did the EF 5 that struck Joplin in May.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maintainschaos
But this observation 1) does not mean that any city is a "tornado magnet" and 2) correlates well with size of counties with McLean, Sangamon and Champaign being among the largest (and some of the most populous, i.e. more people to spot tornadoes,) counties in that area. In general, most tornadoes tend to track SW to NE (http://climateillinois.files.wordpre...does_19501.png), because most storms track that direction. My point is that there is no reason I would or wouldn't choose to live in an area because it has an elevated tornado risk...your chance of being in the path of a tornado is so incredibly small.
I don't believe correlation to*Champaign has anything to do with central Illinois tornadoes. I do not believe Sangamon County has any correlation to McLean County.
What do believe*is McLean, Sangamon and Champaign counties were built in the plains of the Praire State amongst corn fields and that fornadoes form in flat open ground particularly in corn fields due to the high huimidity. .
You said "Sangamon and Champaign being among the largest (and some of the most populous, i.e. more people to spot tornadoes,) counties in that area."
.....Champaign is not in central Illinois. Springfield tornadoes don't track into Champaign any more than it tracks into Peoria County which has a larger population and only 15 tornadoes.
Location, location, location. County size and populatin is not a factor.
It looks like Spfd fornadoes form in Morgan or Christian County and sometimes clip Menard County and move into Logan county. Logan tornadoes move into McLean County and continue on a NE track. Tornadoes can change track if it developes a hook as did the EF 5 that struck Joplin in May.
I just don't think you are reading carefully nor are you understanding my point.
I am not going to rehash an old argument, but Champaign IS in central Illinois. You can call it east central Illinois if it makes you feel better, but it is still in central Illinois (Central Illinois - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
And, by the way, Champaign county is also more populous than Peoria county, by almost 15,000 people. The three most populous counties in the central part of the state are (as of the 2010 census): 1) Champaign county (201,081 people) 2) Sangamon county (197,465 people) and 3) Peoria county (186,494 people)
Yes, Champaign is in the East Central part of Central Illinois. "As reported in the 2010 U.S. Census, the city of Champagn was home to 81,055 people." https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Champaign_%28IL%29"
linicx seems to respond to every thread about Springfield with a warning of the tornado risk. He often suggests Petersburg (Menard County) as an alternative because of lower historic tornado activity. While tornado risk is something to be aware of, it is still only one risk factory and, frankly, a small one in the total scope of things even in the areas of historically high tornadic activity. Truth is there hasn't been a tornado-related fatality in the city of Springfield in over 40 years. But there have been several fatal car accidents on the main route of travel between Springfield and Petersburg. So while choosing to commute from Petersburg to Springfield may slightly reduce your risk of death by tornado, your of risk of dying on the commute is increased by at least as much.
Back to the topic at hand, the OP would likely find the most suitable choices by focusing on properties west of Chatham road. Other areas to consider are the subdivisions off of East Lake Shore, and the surrounding "suburbs" of Rochester, Chatham, or Sherman.
Tornado risk actually does not vary too terribly much from one part of Central Illinois to another. This includes Champaign, Springfield, Decatur, Bloomington, Peoria, Macomb, or anywhere else. Scientifically, there is little reason for any one of those cities, or any other part of Central Illinois to have a significantly higher risk of tornadoes than any other area. What we know is that Central Illinois is, on a global scale, and even a National scale, has a pretty high frequency of tornadoes. It is not as high as Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa, but it is higher than most other parts of the country.
The observations show higher tornado counts in some areas, but the observations actually have a known population bias. This is because, before 1988, when doppler radar systems were built around the county, and storm spotters were able to call in storms to that National Weather service more easily due to car phones and then cell phones, many storms that occurred in unpopulated regions were simply never detected. They would basically hit nothing, nobody would see it, the end.
The SPC data set shows an average of 500 tornadoes in the early years (1950s and 1960s), while recent years average closer to 1200. This clearly indicates that storms were missed in the earlier parts of the data set. The data set being referenced here goes back all the way to 1950. So, the first 30 to 40 years of this data set occurred at a time when many storms in less populated areas went undetected.
Most scientific study of tornado climatology would indicate that tornado risk across Central Illinois would decrease very slightly as you go Eastward, with almost no gradient in risk North to South or local geographical effects.
I am not a weather person, but I've lived in the Peoria a long time and I've in the infamous Tornado alley on the OK/MO border for a number of years. I've never seen a tornado in OK or IL track due N, S, E or W, but I've seen straight line winds move due West to East in Missouri; i was in it. I was in straight line winds that moved north to south in Peoria. I watched try to form from a scub cloud outside my house. It rejoined the other wihte fluffy clouds and moved off.
I have a lot of opinions about weather based on nothing more than personal observations. I still think when man distrupts nature unintended conodequences occur. .
But this observation 1) does not mean that any city is a "tornado magnet" and 2) correlates well with size of counties with McLean, Sangamon and Champaign being among the largest (and some of the most populous, i.e. more people to spot tornadoes,) counties in that area. In general, most tornadoes tend to track SW to NE (http://climateillinois.files.wordpre...does_19501.png), because most storms track that direction. My point is that there is no reason I would or wouldn't choose to live in an area because it has an elevated tornado risk...your chance of being in the path of a tornado is so incredibly small.
He's been spewing this stuff for years on here. Bottom line is that is ridiculous to avoid a specific area of an Illinois town because it's a "tornado magnet." Sheer poppycock.
Now, to your question. Depends greatly on what you want and what your income level is. I lived on the SW side near Westchester subdivision about 13 years ago, and loved it. Some nice 70s era homes for cheap. There are some great older neighborhoods around Washington Park. Go north of there if you're on a budget and south if you want a beautiful tree-lined, albeit expensive neighborhood.
If you want a more suburban feel, many have flocked to west of Veterans or SW to the Chatham area. The only place to really avoid is the east side and areas of the north side. These are lower income neighborhoods, although there are some decent working class neighborhoods on the north side.
"Springrield is a tornado magnet. Far north or northwest towards Petersburg. Do not live near i-55, SW or NE of Springfield, or near the center of the city."
Springfield is no more a tornado magnet than most places in the Great Plains or Midwest. According to the data points on this map and your logic, no one should live anywhere between N. Dakota and South Texas and eastern Colorado to the Appalachians.
FEMA: Tornado Activity in the United States (http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/saferoom/tsfs02_torn_activity.shtm - broken link)
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $53,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I just don't think you are reading carefully nor are you understanding my point. 
