Illinois...part of tornado alley, or not? (Skokie, Belvidere: school, live)

[redskinsfanqca]

Ive seen maps that include Illinois as part of Tornado Alley, while others do not. we do have many tornadoes and severe thunderstorms here in Illinois, and it is generally flat. What do you fine folks think?

[myrc60]

I would say Illinois is definitely included in Tornado Alley however the threat is not as severe there as it is in Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas, etc.

You may not know this but here in South Carolina we do not have tornado warning system and you can see why from the colors in the state.

[jdoll]

Plainfield, IL, Belvidere, IL and Barneveld, WI have all had F5's

[Avengerfire]

I think it is pretty obvious it is. Any map that does not include it is not very credible.

[SJaye]

The purest definition of tornado alley actually does not include Illinois. It generally stretches from the northern half of Texas, north to the southern half of South Dakota, east to the western half of Missouri, Iowa, and Arkansas, and west to the easternmost part of Colorado. This is the region where the tornado threat is the highest of the high: the highest in the world. In the weather business, we generally recognize two other regions that are prone to tornadoes, but not quite as prone as tornado alley. These regions are both directly to the east of tornado alley; "Dixie Alley", which stretches from Arkansas east to South Carolina, and the "Midwest", which is eastern Iowa, eastern Missouri, and pretty much all of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

Of the maps posted here, the first one represents a generally more broad definition of tornado alley than most chasers accept. This first map on the wiki page is closer to what most serious storm watchers view as "tornado alley". The second posted map represents tornado observations, which are actually biased toward areas of higher population. You can see plenty of cities with higher contours on this map than the areas around them. Some of the sparsely populated areas of the Great Plains, especially western KS/NE experience tornadoes way more frequently than this map indicates. What can be concluded from this map is that areas like New York, DC, Pheonix, LA are not prone to tornadoes.

It is generally accepted that all three (tornado alley, dixie alley, midwest) have really high tornado risk, especially for worldwide standard, but that tornado alley is higher than the other two- in a class all by itself.

[linicx]

I lived in Tornado Alley. No twister that spawned in Texas or SW Oklahoma ever moved NE through Missiouri and junped the Mississippi River to wreak havoc in Illinois. It did not happen and there are no records to support this theory. Illinois twisters, particularly those in Central Illinois form in fields,

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/?n=tor-climo

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[Steve-o]

Tornadoes do occur here, but not anywhere near the frequency of Tornado Alley. Ive lived here almost my whole life, and we've had many warnings, but nothing damaging. To the south of us lies Plainfield, which has had a few tornadoes, one was pretty damaging. The further north you go in IL, the less they occur, thats something to consider. Actually, the further north central you go, the less frequency. You might get some sirens once or twice a year, but its short lived and nothing really ever comes of it, knock on wood.

[cubssoxfan]

Sunday Tribune weather page Tom Skilling had info on strongest (F3-F5) long-track(at least 20 miles) tornados from 1950-2006. He had the Dixie Alley(AR, No. LA, MS, AL, 1/2 of TN, & GA) #1, Tornado Alley #2 (OK, KS, Eastern NE,1/2 of IA and a bit of western WI.) Hoosier Alley #3 (Eastern & part of So. IL, IN, So MI and far W. OH) and Carolina Alley #4 (Corridor in Eastern NC rougly parallel to I-95). I was surprised Dixie Alley had more than Tornado Alley. Hoosier Alley and Carolina Alley also surprised me. But history tells me the super outbreak in the early 70's happened in Hoosier Alley. Anyone remember Xenia OH.? I saw the footage on TV and was scared of Tornados and weather watches and warnings the next 10 years. I remember the panic I felt as a child over a warning in Western IL, freakin' 140 miles away. I am VERY patient with my 9 year old when she gets scared of storms. I also remember in the late 70's going to the basement in school because of bad storms. One storm turned a sunny afternoon to Midnight pitch black. I think that's the storm that took off the roof at shopping center in Skokie about 4 miles from our school. Funny how the snowiest, coldest winters in 77 & 78 seemed to bring very warm March's with very bad storms.

[NYrules]

They are VERY rare in Crook county. I can't speak for others though. Lived in Mc Lean for a few years and we had a few down there, but still very minimal little ones that maybe blew a porta potty over or something.

[linicx]

McLean County had more reports of twisters than any county in Central Illinois. The updated map shows 100. Sprinfield is close behind with 70 or more,

The F-5 Supercell that hit OKC a few years ago was on the ground for several hours and traveled close to 40 miles - acprding to NOAA. .