Bloomington Illinois sitting in a bowl? (Chicago, Peoria: sale, house, school)

[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

[april_scoggins2006]

hello i live in illinois the town called carlinville its real nice here we dont get tornadoes they go around us all we get is rain and winds thunder lighting but thats it and i lived in this town off an on since 91 the school are pretty good my little boy is in his 2nd year in preeschool and loves it i live on a dead end road so its nice good luck on finding a place to live and safe for you and your family

[cileskot]

i live in bloomington and i'm not able to prove anything, but all of my freinds and family tell me about how bloomington is in a bowl and wont get hit by a tornado. i've been told that the only time a tornado touched in bloomington was on grove street in the 60's or something. i've also heard that the heat from the town keeps tornados away or something? idk if thats true or not but thats what i've been told.

[kaosproperties]

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

Breathe.....Relax!

I grew up in California and went through multiple earthquakes. No harm done to me, my family and home.

In fact, it felt weird not feeling any quakes when we moved to Illinois. However, when we did get the quake here in Illinois, it felt like home. I know, it's weird. It has to do with familiarity.

I lived in Florida and witnessed Hurricane. Only the newbies were scared of it. Oldbies were prepared. My family survived well.

I did mentioned living in California. We knew what to do. We were prepared. Still survived.

Currently living in Illinois. Never a fear until it hit my house last March. Since then, I've learned that tornado is more dangerous compared to earthquakes and hurricanes. Why? There's far less warning of upcoming tornado. Uncertainty of what direction tornado is heading. Whereas, earthquakes has well-known faults and hurricanes do not "sneak up" on you.

Bloomington? In a bowl? No, it's not true....

[kaosproperties]

Originally Posted by cileskot

i live in bloomington and i'm not able to prove anything, but all of my freinds and family tell me about how bloomington is in a bowl and wont get hit by a tornado. i've been told that the only time a tornado touched in bloomington was on grove street in the 60's or something. i've also heard that the heat from the town keeps tornados away or something? idk if thats true or not but thats what i've been told.

The heat from the town----that is true but only up to a point.....it depends on the time of year, the temperatures, etc.

For example: I live in Springfield, Illinois in a very popular village. No tornado hitting against the village for many, many years. Yet, it hit my house and my village last March.

Supposedly, we live in a "bowl". Well, to put it kindly---hogwash!

Bottom line---no city/town/village is tornado-free in the state of Illinois.

[greenlee2]

I grew up up in Central Illinois in a town outside Bloomington. Chill out. I'm in my forties (live in Chicago now) and can tell you that tornadoes are few & far between. Yes, Central Illinois is in a valley and I only know of one tornado back in 1968 and that was to the south in Dewitt County. Any tornadic activity always seemed to be over near Peoria to the west and always dissapate or miss Blomington-Normal and it's surrounding little towns. RELAX. As I said, I grew up there!! All you do in go down to the basement anyway. I'll take that over flooding & eathquakes anyday. As I said it's few & far-between. No worries.

[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....

[runninfiend]

Originally Posted by greenlee2

I grew up up in Central Illinois in a town outside Bloomington. Chill out. I'm in my forties (live in Chicago now) and can tell you that tornadoes are few & far between. Yes, Central Illinois is in a valley and I only know of one tornado back in 1968 and that was to the south in Dewitt County. Any tornadic activity always seemed to be over near Peoria to the west and always dissapate or miss Blomington-Normal and it's surrounding little towns. RELAX. As I said, I grew up there!! All you do in go down to the basement anyway. I'll take that over flooding & eathquakes anyday. As I said it's few & far-between. No worries.

Poppycock. Central Illinois is not "in a valley" and Bloomington is not in a "bowl." Ludicrous. In fact, Bloomington is on an upland prairie on top of thousands of years of depositional till and soil, with some areas raised even above that landscape on morainal ridges.

The topography of B/N has zippo to do with tornadoes hitting or not hitting the town. Storms do go through, in fact, there was a minor tornado just south of Bloomington a few years ago off of Market St.

Fact is, we don't have a lot of tornadoes that actually touch down in Central Illinois, but when they do, we have hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland for them to pass through, only a small fraction of which are occupied by cities. It's sheer random chance whether or not a tornado will hit you.

It's really not worth worrying over because A. we just don't have that many and B. the chances are tiny that you'll be affected.

Tornadic activity should not be a reason to not move to Illinois, as tornadoes can pretty much occur anywhere in the lower 48.

[NYrules]

Ya that sounds like something one of those dumb _ _ _ es down there would say. No, tornadoes can strike ANYWHERE with little to no notice. Bloomington/Normal is no exception to the rule and it does NOT sit in some sort of bowl, nor to Normalite's thinking is B/N some sort of huge metropolis! (Another thing I couldn't stand hearing anymore of while I lived down there because I just thought, "have you EVER been to a real city like Chicago, or Atlanta, or Miami?")

Anyways though, that thinking of B/N sitting in a bowl has got to be by far one of the most stupid _ _ _ things I have ever heard on here, but again after living down there in the 90s and finally saying I had enough with the stupidity down there among a large majority of the people living there, I left in 2001, so I can understand how someone from there would tell you something so idiotic.

My advice, BE PREPARED! Know what to do if a tornado comes at you. Have a basement.

[CarolL]

"Tornado alley" is a misnomer and practically a meaningless term scientifically.

Statistically, there have been more tornadoes in Florida than Illinois; they just aren't as strong. (Florida is rated 3rd or 4th for number of tornadoes, depending on the source, and IL is down at #8 or 9.)

I grew up in western IL and have been in a few tornadoes, and I've been thru three hurricanes, on the East Coast and the Gulf Coast. Yes, tornadoes are dangerous, but just respect Mother Nature: Pay attention, learn the signs, take cover, don't try to outrun them or do anything stupid, and you should be fine. I wouldn't stay away from IL because of the tornadoes.