Categories: Chicago

Chicago not tornado-proof

Chicago has developed a false reputation as being impervious to tornadoes despite being known as the Windy City. Over the course of history, Chicago have seen very few tornadoes with respect to rest to rest of Illinois. Illinois sees dozens of tornadoes annually and has endured the nation’s deadliest tornado, the 1925 Tri-State tornado.

1925 Tri-State tornado has killed 695 people and 2,000 injured on a path from northeastern Missouri through southern Illinois and Indiana. Experts have said that Chicagoan have been in a false perception that the city can’t have tornadoes as there hasn’t been a severe tornado near the city in decades. Many of them consider the city tornado-proof as they think that the city is protected by the cooler temperatures and breezes from Lake Michigan, or that downtown’s skyline is a stumbling block for cyclones.

Many scientists have been fighting the misnomers for years and one of them is Northern Illinois University assistant professor Victor Gensini. Gensini says, “People in Chicago are complacent because there’s an urban legend that the lake will steer a tornado away or that the buildings are going to protect you.”

Tornadoes require a clash of warm and cold air. In the spring, as Lake Michigan thaws from its winter freeze, the areas near the lake stay cooler. And the cooler ground-level temperatures make for less than ideal conditions for a tornado generation. Matt Friedlein, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Romeoville says, “On those type of days, where there’s a weak lake breeze, that will have a minimal effect, because the environment is so volatile.”

Friedlein also said, “It can produce long-lived storms and tornado potential. Some of the tornadoes (that have occurred in Illinois) go 25-plus miles.” The skyrocket buildings will do little to stop the tornado if it is created in the city.

Shawn Genzone

Senior writer at the Chicago Morning Star

Recent Posts

Senate Democrats mock Biden for selling weapons to Israel

Some of President Biden's strongest Senate allies are calling on Israelis to end months of fierce fighting and criticizing the…

10 months ago

The biggest cities in Ukraine are struck by Russian missiles, leaving at least 4 dead and over 100 injured

Ukraine's KYIV — At least four people were killed and nearly 100 injured when Russian hypersonic ballistic missiles attacked Ukraine's…

10 months ago

Good News That’s Much Needed for Biden

The economy is making Americans feel a little more upbeat, especially when it comes to jobs and incomes, which could…

11 months ago

College Ventilation System Reveals Missing Man

The discovery of a decaying body inside a college ventilation system marked the tragic and unexplained end to a missing…

11 months ago

Following three Palestinian shots, a Vermont man was arrested

Following the shooting deaths of three 20-year-old Palestinian-American students in Vermont, authorities have detained a man. According to a news…

11 months ago

China is told to cease “COVID deception” due to the pneumonia outbreak by the US envoy

The United States ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, urged Chinese authorities "to abandon COVID deception" and demanded that China be…

12 months ago

This website uses cookies.