McLean County (Chicago, Peoria, Springfield: house, tornado, taxis)

[Dukester]

Is McLean County the second largest county in Illinois? Which is the first, Cook?

[Scio42]

Originally Posted by Dukester

Is McLean County the second largest county in Illinois? Which is the first, Cook?

If your talking about population, Cook county (i.e. Chicago + some suburbs) is by far the largest county. The next largest is DuPage (Chicago suburbs). McLean is one of the larger counties but still not in the top 10 most populous Illinois counties.

If your talking about size (sq miles) then McLean is the largest county.

[Dukester]

Originally Posted by Scio42

If your talking about population, Cook county (i.e. Chicago + some suburbs) is by far the largest county. The next largest is DuPage (Chicago suburbs). McLean is one of the larger counties but still not in the top 10 most populous Illinois counties.

If your talking about size (sq miles) then McLean is the largest county.

Yes, I was talking in terms of sq miles... So, McLean is the largest, I thought it was the second...

Soooo... If McLean is the largest than the data from NOAA indicating number of tornadoes could be indeed proportionate to the size of the county, true? That is comparing McLean and Peoria Counties.

[linicx]

Mclean 1194 sq. mi, a pop of 165,298 and 97 tornadoes
Peoria 629 sq. mi., a pop of 182.328 and 13 tornadoes

An engineer just did a quick figure.
B-N has 139 pop per sq mi and .08 tornadoes per sq mi.
Peoria has 280 pop per sq. mi. and .02 tornadoes per sq. mi.

[Scio42]

Originally Posted by Dukester

Yes, I was talking in terms of sq miles... So, McLean is the largest, I thought it was the second...

Soooo... If McLean is the largest than the data from NOAA indicating number of tornadoes could be indeed proportionate to the size of the county, true? That is comparing McLean and Peoria Counties.

True, a larger county would have a greater chance of getting hit by a tornado. With enough data, someone could see if this is either true or if one county is more prone to tornadoes. Unfortuantely, the 50 yrs of data from the NOAA is not enough. At the county level, tornado strikes are usually infrequent in any given year, yet one bad storm can easily spawn 10 tornadoes in county and skew the results for such a relatively short time frame. Maybe if we had 150 years of reliable data we'd have a large enough sample to be statisically significant. Of course, by the time someone figures this out, global warming will have changed the weather patterns....

[linicx]

The other consideration is topgrahy. Tornadoes typically form in the plains and prairies such as in Texas, Kansas, Tennessee and Illinois. and move through open fields SW to NE. Of course there are exceptions to all weather related disasters. Two that come to mind are the fires of 1871 - Fire Engineering - Remembering The Great Peshtigo Fire of 1871 - and the 2006 storm called the "worst in Illinois history'.

And of course there are towns and villages in IL that have never been touched by a tornado. Rather than numbers and percentages maybe studying the data such as weather reports presented by NOAA and a good map will reveal a pattern. Why did Peoria have 1/9 of the tornadoes that Mclean County did? Why did Sangamon County have 1/3 less twisters than Mclean County, but five times more than Peoria County?

As tornadoes get energy from water, how does Lake Springfield and Lake Bloomingyon figure into the equation? What about the Illinois River Valley? Why do tornadoes jump from hilltop to hilltop in an area of low rolling hills such as those around Nashville, but they don't normally jump high hills like those in and around Peoria?

Dukester, you will move to the area that best suits your needs. Find a house with a basement and build a sturdy bench in the NW corner. Or build a root celler. Chances are you will never need it, but if you do. you have it.

I lived in Tornado Alley. The last house I owned had a room in the basement at the back of the house that was completely underground with power and a phone. It was never used. I use a NOAA radio that runs on battery or electricity.

The only time I ever worried about a storm was when straightline winds of 80+ mph drove a large limb through a bedroom wall. It was not in the Peoria area - but I was surrounded by open fields and in between two major E-W highways - and the winds came from the west and then turned back south toward a river. There was a lot of property damage that day but no one was hurt. Hall beat the car up and sanded the paint off the west side of the storage building. It was too strange for words. The evening sun was out about 45 minutes later.
. . .

[Dukester]

Thanks for all the weather data. I find weather fascinating and I am no stranger to severe weather having grown up in McLean County - B/N... I was not aware that Tornadoes drew off bodies of water to sustain their energy? Now I do believe as you suggest that the Illinois River Valley does offer some topographical advantages to Peoria Metro Area to stem the births or hinder pathways of tornadoes... As I grew up I remember hearing a lot of touchdowns in and around Hudson, Towanda, Lexington and even around Lake Bloomington with all areas I listed are North of the twin cities.

[linicx]

The more I kearn about the tornadoes and weather patterns the more fascinated I am with the conditions that cause twisters to spawn. I could be wrong, but I think I saw in the B-N data there was some tornadic activity around Leroy. I was told the Dixie truckstop sustained damage in the past, too. I am still of the opinon tornadoes strike more often in open areas on 1-55. 1-74 and west of Peoria (past Brimfield) on US 150, and not so much on IL 116, IL 40, IL 26, I-39 (old IL 51) or US 24. It is interesting that of the last five routes mentioned, only IL 40 is in Peoira.. The others, except IL 39, are primarily in Tazewell County whereas I-39 extends from Chicago to southern Illnois (passing through Tazewell) and maybe as far south as the confluence. Have not visited there for a number of years.

What would be interesing - and NOAA has it in their weather library - is a complete weather picture of four season central Illinois since weather data collecting began. Scientists say global warming is natural and occurs every hundred years. How does it compare to the more recent weather inre increased population of animals, man and coal/fuel powered machinery, the extintion of some species and the melting polar ice cap?

If this is a natural balance of nature and man the questions I want answered area who, what. why, where and when - before I support any solar warming theory I do not fully understand. I remember living in Peoria in the 40s when the summer was so desert hot you could cook an egg on the hood of any car and winters were as bitter cold as Chicago. I did not see another winter in Peoria quite like that until 1981 when it iwas so cold food froze in the pantry and neither the City bus nor taxis ran for a few days that week. I knew something unusual was going to happen as it started to snow in September and did not stop. I've seem some strange weather events in Chicago and Minnepaolis, too. I was ready to go outside in shorts and bare feet when it started to snow! The snow snower was of short duration, and the flakes melted as fast as it hit the pavement. I enjoyed it.

Central Illinois isn't the only place that has weird or violent weather. Some years it just feels like it. :