Bloomington Illinois sitting in a bowl? (Chicago, Peoria: live in, statistics, safer)

[Matt Miller]

Originally Posted by kepi

Hi,
I just went through a really horrible earthquake here in Hawaii on the big island. WOW, anyway I am from Bloomington and moved back for a short time in 2002 and then moved back to Hawaii. Anyway really tired of moving back and forth. But, I really need the ground to be stable. When I lived in Illinois, I was really scared of tornadoes and my brother was telling me you really don't have to worry as Bloomington sits in a bowl like, so they don't touch down in Bloomington. Does anyone know if this is true?
We are also considering Florida, but there you have hurricans and my nerves just can't hold up to all mother nature has to offer up. I really just want to live in the safest place possible. We do enjoy the nice weather year round, but you can't have everything. Love to hear any info from anyone.
aloha, Kepi

Move to Arizona or Utah

[linicx]

Sangamon County and McLean County have one thing in common 1-55. Here's a NOAA weather map. There were seven reported touchdowns in Bloomington.

National Weather Service, Lincoln IL -- Tornado Climatology of Central and Southeast Illinois

[Frank Kemo]

Originally Posted by SirPent

I was just 'surfing the net' and found this thread. Since I have something to add, and the slight chance that someone else might read this, I thought I would add my 2 cents.

Bloomington/Normal is NOT sitting in 'Bowl'. Rather, Bloomington/Normal is sitting on TOP OF a Moraine System that extends from the East to Indiana and to the North-West to Iowa. The Morain System is even called the Bloomington Moraine System.

I have always wondered why we never got tornadoes here. Well, I believe it is because we are slightly higher than the land around us. The tornadoes mainly hit South of us around McLean and Heyworth or South of there. Sometimes they go North up around El Paso or Lexington.

Want to see evidence of the Moraine? Go to Sale Barn Road and look South overlooking the Prairie Vista Golf Course. You will notice that you appear to be looking down over the land south of there. The other place that you can see evidence is driving to and from Champaign on I-74. If you look to the North between Farmer City and Downs, you will see a 'ridge' of sorts. That is the Moraine system that you can see.

As for tornadoes in or near town.....the only two confirmed even near here was one in 1991?? that I personally saw from Eastland Mall that touched down near the corner of Towanda Barnes and Route 150. The other one was around 2006 that touched down in the fields South of the Lamplighter Subdivision outside of Towanda.

Well....that was my thoughts on why we have yet to see any confirmed Tornadoes in the city limits of Bloomington/Normal....

I live in Justice IL., a town just southwest of Chicago. South west of where I live is Palos Hills, a town that is home to a moraine valley, so I too live along the ridge of a moraine.

Ever since I got caught in a micro burst that ripped a tin roof off an apartment and down hundreds of trees, I have been respectful of the storms that come through our area. What I have noticed from watching radar since that day is that many strong systems capapble of producing tornadic activity tend to weaken as they pass over the moraine. I once thought this had something to do with the lake or the city, but the system actually splits as it moves through, it keeps it's strength just to the north and just to the south. It is weird, and I do not have any scientific data to support this statement, this is just an observation. By no means am I saying we dont have violent weather, but I do believe living on the upslope of a moraine might have an effect on tornado development.

[Wesco]

One hit clinton about 4yrs back, so anything is possible.

[mbakerphoto]

When I was a kid growing up in Clinton I was told it didn't get tornadoes because the power plant had a force field around it so tornadoes couldn't get in.........

[Snuke]

I have lived in Bloomington, IL for over 4 years now, and only once have the tornado sirens even sounded. The tornado touched down more than 10 miles from here.

I lived in Central Massachusetts all my life and saw at least 6 tornados, several earthquakes, numerous Nor'Easters and Hurricanes. I now feel much safer living in Bloomington IL.

[Aleking]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

I think it's interesting people still have these views that geography somehow affects tornadoes. I assume maybe it's just stories made up so people feel safer living in a particular city?

I've heard many people say Chicago is safe cause it's sitting on Lake Michigan. I even once heard downtown Chicago can't get hit by tornadoes cause of all the tall buildings affecting the tornado, haha. Cities with large hills around them, sitting in low areas (bowls), trees, steep inclines. It's strange to read about, but NO - A TORNADO COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT WHAT TYPE OF FEATURES ARE ON THE GROUND. IT'S FORMED IN THE CLOUDS AND WITH WIND PATTENRS OVER LARGE AREAS.

Lake Michigan, sitting in a low area, steep hills. These factors don't affect a tornado one bit, it could care less.

The only factor I could possibly see is if maybe Lake Michigan is very cold, and an approaching storm system might lose a little punch as it confronts the cooler waters of the lake, but again, this probably wouldn't happen. Once you hit late spring, the lake water is roughly the same temp as the surrounding air, and definitely not cold enough to affect the weather.

This isn't entirely true. The reason the lake offers protection is because the dominant favorable wind field for twisters is with back (or SE winds) at the lower levels rotating to the west as you head up in the atmosphere. So what happens is even when the atmosphere is otherwise ripe for their formation, when you get the backed winds, it brings in cooler stable air to the near shoreline. Chicago can get tornados but the lake does indeed offer some protection. There's a reason most of the regions tornados are in the south/southwest burbs.

The buildings do nothing.

[linicx]

There were 101 instances of tornadic activity in McLean County. The highest in Central Illinois followed by Sangamon County National Weather Service, Lincoln IL -- Tornado Climatology of Central and Southeast Illinois

[sunnyandcloudydays]

Originally Posted by Aleking

This isn't entirely true. The reason the lake offers protection is because the dominant favorable wind field for twisters is with back (or SE winds) at the lower levels rotating to the west as you head up in the atmosphere. So what happens is even when the atmosphere is otherwise ripe for their formation, when you get the backed winds, it brings in cooler stable air to the near shoreline. Chicago can get tornados but the lake does indeed offer some protection. There's a reason most of the regions tornados are in the south/southwest burbs.

The buildings do nothing.

So the cooler stable air mixed in with the unstable air halts the development.

One thought to ponder: a storm moving across the great lake sometimes does gain momentum and is just as violent when it hits michigans shoreline.

I believe what your stating is the unstable air mass hits the cooler stable air and literally does not provide the rotation needed to spawn a tornado.

The rotating effect diminishes.
This obviously is not the case with straight line winds as lake michigan does not offer any proteciton for that scenario.

[sunnyandcloudydays]

Originally Posted by linicx

There were 101 instances of tornadic activity in McLean County. The highest in Central Illinois followed by Sangamon County National Weather Service, Lincoln IL -- Tornado Climatology of Central and Southeast Illinois

Looking at the McClean county map I notice the county has a wide base for its south border.

Since tornados generally form and travel from the s and sw this may be why they get more than surrounding counties.

I really see no other reason why the numbers would be so high compared to all of the counties.

McClean does has a rather large number of instances compared to all of its neighbors..