This year’s storm season has been rather explosive. In the past few days alone, more than 35 million Americans from Texas to Wisconsin have been hit by both tornado warnings and actual tornadoes. If you didn’t get hit by a tornado, there’s also been more than enough rain to cause destructive and hazardous flooding. I’ve been visiting my local storm shelter so much that I’m getting tired. I now even have a system in place to try to save my cars in a twister.
The midwestern storm season has been fierce. The National Weather Service in La Crosse, Wisconsin, issued 26 tornado warnings on April 17. The station says that’s the most tornado warnings it’s issued in a single day since the office was built in 1995. That storm produced 10 recorded tornadoes on that day, marking the area’s largest April tornado outbreak. A total of 20 tornadoes hit Wisconsin last week, four of which were in the southeastern part of the state.
Illinois has been hammered by storms worse than anyone this year. NBC 5 Chicago reports that Illinois has logged over 300 storm reports this year, including 115 reports of hail and 59 tornadoes. That report was written on April 11, before an additional 29 tornadoes touched down in Illinois on April 17 alone. Many Illinois residents who have thankfully dodged these tornadoes instead have to deal with flooding. I’m local to the areas covered in this CBS Chicago report below (click here if you cannot see it):
Yesterday, a bunch of reports indicated that Rivian’s plant in Normal, Illinois, had been hit by an EF1 tornado during the April 17 outbreak. Specifically, a parts storage area for the Rivian R2 production was damaged. The tornado that struck the plant was on a path that was up to 2,400 feet wide and produced winds up to 110 mph. It traveled 10.3 miles, going right through the heart of Normal. Another EF1 struck Normal’s sister city of Bloomington.
Thankfully, Rivian reported zero injuries, and while Rivian had to stop operations for the R2, that part of the plant is expected to come back online this week.
While awful, this year’s tornado season hasn’t toppled the Super Outbreak of 2011, when some 367 tornadoes spawned between April 25 and April 28, with 223 of those tornadoes occurring during a 24-hour period on April 27 alone. The 2011 storm season was the same one that produced the tragic EF5 tornado that devastated Joplin, Missouri, on May 22.
Tornado Safety
Storm safety is important, no matter the size of the outbreak. Tornadoes don’t just bring damaging wind, but also debris that flies through the air so fast that it could pierce through buildings. Tornadoes can and do level homes, and your car, even if it’s a pickup truck, can get tossed like a toy. Tornadoes will even derail trains. Look no further than this video from the early days of YouTube (click here if you don’t see the video):
The National Weather Service generally recommends responding to a tornado by getting as low as you can. If you’re in the Midwest, there’s a chance you have a basement, so go there.
In lieu of a basement, get to the lowest floor of your property, stay away from windows, and put as many walls between you and the outside as possible. Go to a small room like a closet, bathroom, or hallway. Don’t bother opening windows because that actually won’t help the structure. If you have time, cover yourself with a heavy table, blankets, or something else to protect you from debris.
If you’re in a tent, camper, or a mobile home, get out and find a sturdy structure. If you’re already in a car, it’s daytime, there’s no traffic, and you can see a distant tornado, drive away from the tornado at a 90-degree angle. Ideally, find shelter, and that shelter should not be an underpass. If you’re in a car and it’s nighttime or you can’t see the tornado, find the closest shelter. Even going into a ditch is better than staying in your car.
Many Americans who live in “Tornado Alley,” the loosely defined region of the central plains encompassing Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas, are used to performing tornado drills, having proper storm shelters, and being prepared.
Illinois Has Been Wild
That’s not really the case up here in northeastern Illinois. Many of us haven’t seen a tornado for several decades. Indeed, while I have experienced several tornado warnings and have even seen my share of funnel clouds, I have only seen a single tornado on the ground in my entire life. When I was a teenager, there was even a bit of an urban legend that circulated in the local area. The speculation was that we don’t get tornadoes because we’re too close to Lake Michigan. Another story I’ve heard is that Chicago doesn’t get tornadoes because of all of the skyscrapers and the lake.
Taking a year and a half of Meteorology in college was eye-opening. A lot of that class was awesome, like getting taught how to predict the weather by hand. But then there was the history of tornadoes in Illinois. One of the charts that we were introduced to was produced by the Midwestern Regional Climate Center. At the time, the chart displayed the track of every reported tornado from 1950 to 2012. Nowadays, it goes as far as 2024. The chart alone dispels so many myths.
If you set the chart to display the tracks of F/EF 1 to F/EF 5 tornadoes, you’ll see that Illinois’ largest northern cities, including Chicago, Evanston, and Waukegan, have all been hit by tornadoes right there along the lake. A couple of those tornadoes were even F4s in decades past. Some of the tornado tracks even reveal that some tornadoes went right into Lake Michigan.
If you expand the list to include F/EF 0 tornadoes, you’ll see that most towns and cities in Illinois have been hit by a tornado at least once.
Back in 2021, I even drove my 2002 Nova Bus RTS-06 in the trail of the infamous EF3 tornado that struck Naperville on June 20. That tornado was the first and only tornado I have seen in person, and I didn’t even realize I was looking at and technically chasing a tornado until my bus went through the tornado’s debris field.
Yet, throughout my entire life, I have witnessed so many Illinoisans ignore tornado warnings and sirens.
It’s one thing when people stand outside to try to film the tornado. Look, I live in the Midwest, some of us try to crack open a beer and watch a tornado for fun. Even I’m guilty of that. But I’ve seen so many people just ignore the warning entirely and keep on playing video games, driving, watching TV, or working. Many of the companies I’ve worked for here in Illinois had no policy on what to do during a tornado. It’s just not something people worry about.
Some municipalities here in Illinois are trying something a bit different to get residents’ attention. Instead of just firing tornado sirens for tornado warnings, they’ll also blow the sirens when a storm is “tornado possible,” from NBC 5 Chicago:
According to the NBC 5 Storm Team, while tornado sirens are sounded when there is a warning issued, either because a tornado is on the ground or because rotation has been detected within a thunderstorm, some municipalities will sound sirens when there is a threat of a tornado as well.
Several of the NWS alerts, including one for McHenry, Lake, Kane and DeKalb counties, were tagged as “tornado possible” storms, meaning that while there wasn’t strong enough rotation to issue a warning, there was a possibility that the storms could spin up a tornado quickly.
Therefore, the sirens were sounded to alert residents to that possibility.
I’m Getting Used To Being In A Storm Shelter
In practice, this has more or less meant that this year, I’ve heard a tornado siren at the beginning of every severe thunderstorm. I am a resident of McHenry County, and the sirens have gotten a lot of exercise each year.
The quirk is that the sirens that blow for a “tornado possible” storm are the same ones that sound for an actual tornado. Also, I’ve noticed that I do not always get a notification on my phone when a tornado warning is in effect. I’m left Googling if the siren is for a real tornado warning, which would eat up valuable time in a real emergency. So, I just treat all sirens as if a tornado is on its way.
This, admittedly, has gotten a little tiring. I have a whole system in place for tornado response. I grab my Green Cheeked Conures and place them in their travel backpack.
Then, I grab the small fireproof safe that has all of my car titles and keys in it. Finally, I nab some water and first aid before running for the lowest level of my apartment complex. Part of why I grab titles and keys is because, in the event that a tornado plows through my apartment but not through my cars, I don’t want to imagine the nightmare of having to replace 20 sets of titles and keys. Especially since some of my cars have modern security systems.
For the past eight years that I’ve been living here, I’ve usually chosen to stay in the hallway. But I am concerned that, in a truly strong tornado, this building isn’t going to do much. There’s no basement, no concrete stairwells, and even giant windows in the sizable hallways.
This year, I’ve learned that there is a storm shelter in the community center in my neighborhood. The catch is that the shelter is about a one-minute drive from the apartment, or a two-minute run. But it is a real storm shelter. I discovered it when, one night earlier this spring, I found myself in the Autopian’s Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet with the tornado sirens on full blast.
The fascinating thing was that I was the only person taking cover. I watched my neighbors continue to watch TV, arrive home from work, cook, and just live out their lives. It seemed like I was the only one hearing a tornado siren. Even in the community center, there were people lifting weights and running on treadmills without a care in the world. My birds and I were the only ones in the shelter.
The “tornado possible” sirens don’t appear to have made a difference. Even when I decide to hunker down in the lowest floor of my apartment building, I’m the only one doing it. We got a real tornado warning siren on April 17, and I did my normal routine, this time with my wife. A neighbor returning home from work even looked at me like I was crazy. Are the tornado sirens all in my head or something? Why aren’t people reacting? Am I overreacting?
But I feel myself getting worn out. I don’t plan on ignoring the sirens anytime soon, but the process of upending everything and hiding for 15 minutes is getting old. Even if I treat the “tornado possible” sirens as more of an audible Tornado Watch and don’t act, it’s still tiring. There’s a lot of energy to be spent worrying about losing everything to a tornado. There’s an emotional toll to worrying about whether my birds and my wife will be okay.
Real Life Isn’t Twisters, Be Careful!
I know this story is really only tangentially related to cars, but it’s one of those weird situations where an Autopian writer is being directly impacted by something outside of the usual. Something that I’m sure a lot of our readers in the Midwest are also dealing with.
The next time a tornado warning is issued in your area, remember that your car is a terrible shelter. A tornado can toss it, and that can be a fatal event. Likewise, running from a tornado in your car works until it doesn’t. Tornadoes are not concerned with downed trees, traffic, or really any other obstacle. Yep, the tornado will have no issues crossing a river, a lake, or a city. So, above all else, find sturdy shelter.
Also, with lakes and rivers currently busting their banks, remember, turn around, don’t drown. It doesn’t take a lot of water to wash your vehicle off a road. Good luck, everyone, and stay safe. I hope to see more people in the storm shelter next time.
Top graphic image:
As a Californian the idea of living with tornadoes scares the crap out of me and I’d be taking those warnings seriously too. Even if we have a huge earthquake here and my home is reduced to rubble, chances are it’s still a pretty nice day outside.
It wasn’t just one EF1 in Bloomington, it was two: the first was a short lived twister that touched down at roughly the same time as the Normal tornado. The funnel cloud probably lifted before touching down again, making the Bloomington tornadoes a family. And then there was yet another EF1 just to the south of the city at the same time. With a 34 mile track. Eeeeesh.
NWS Lincoln confirmed 29 tornadoes on Friday in its region ranging from EF0 to EF2. An EF0 skirted about 3 miles south of where I live and sent me to the basement. Not the good kinda crazy night last Friday.
If I were going to move somewhere that get tornadoes on the regular I’m building my house like a hobbit hole, but stronger.
…there’s actually a house like that not far from me.
Couldn’t they just blast Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “Couldn’t Stand the Weather” for tornado possible and save the siren for a confirmed twister?
My tornado plan? Hop in the tub with plenty of adult beverages.
That train video was awesome/terrifying…
For a long time, just a happy train, bopping along more than I thought it would.
Then rain. Ok…must be soon.
Then I see the wind in the trees. Yikes! Any sec…
Then the cars are gone and a tanker car is all “why are y’all lying down? I got places to be! Outta my way you lazy engine!”
I live in Northern Indiana and it’s been a helluva year this year for storms too. I’m just glad that we didn’t have an ice storm. Those things cause so much trouble. Power outages for days and the roads get shutdown.
We have freedom of movement in the USA.
Do Not forget your tornado preparedness drills.
First count your teeth. If you can’t count past five, because you are missing teeth or fingers or get the giggles when you say six, make sure your phone is on 10% battery or less and you have at least one case of beer in the fridge.
If you can count past 5 (teeth, fingers or in general), make sure you know where the safest place for you and your pets are, have a stock of water bottles in it and make sure you put a fully charged battery bank with the proper cables there as well for your phone. That way you can sit in there and stay hydrated and watch the radar as the tornado changes course towards the trailer park with the drunk dude with 3 teeth, 9 beers and a 2% charge on his phone that is live streaming the event.
I’m just old enough to remember the EF5 that hit Plainfield. I know the Chicago area isn’t magically immune to tornadoes. If the sirens are going off, I’m in the basement.
Ok, that top shot is epic.
I was in Alabama in 2011. Something hard to forget. We had 62 tornadoes in a single day. I had 3 go over my backyard. That was a wild day. The storms ate the weather radar and many of the tornado sirens. Cops would sit in their cars in subdivisions and hit their sirens and run to shelter until the storm passed.
The scary part was that my kids were at a friend’s house. They fled to my house when the creek blocked off and flooded their house. An EF5 path was within a mile of that house. All that “finger of God” stuff from Twister is a lie. EF5 damage is not hard to define. It’s easy. Plowed Field. News vans would setup in a plowed field and show pictures of solid brick homes that looked like they had taken cannon fire and a pretty 63 Bubble top Chevy that had been thrown into someone’s yard. What they didn’t realize is that the plowed field was the other half of the subdivision. The EF5 ate the roads, grass, the trees, the houses, and even a couple of the basements. It wasn’t “a Finger of God”, it was an eraser. Whatever was there was gone.
We didn’t have power for 3 weeks after the storm and were trapped with this other family in our house for over a month. The worse part was that the father of this family had legendarily bad breath.
Hopefully you never have to go through something like that. Or at least if you do, you have a crate of Altoids.
Alert fatigue is the term, I think. I’m a bit further north and the last few bands of storms had tons of alerts thrown my way and all we got was some rain and a bit of wind. Same as the last decade or so but I think the volume of alerts has gone up for “reasons.”
Will they eventually be right and I’ll get hit by a tornado? Maybe. But in the meantime, the hundreds of false alarms will have me mostly just ignoring them.
Here in Oklahoma, the saying is “In Travis Meyer we trust.”
IYKYK
Find your Travis Meyer, Mercedes.
If you end up in Alabama, it’s James Spann. He’s a legend for the entire state. General rule of thumb is that if you find him doing weather and he’s got a coat on, you are fine. But if his coat is off and you can see his suspenders, someone is losing a Dollar General.
He is our go-to guy when the sirens go off. We tune in just to see exactly where the rotation is. Normally, we see that it’s far enough away that we can continue life as normal. However, last week he drew a line right over our neighborhood so we hunkered down in an interior room. The rotation didn’t touch down near us, but it did produce an EF1 earlier.
This time of the year, I make the NOAA Storm Prediction Center a daily click and look at the convective outlooks. That way I have a good idea about what’s heading our way days in advance. When we get within 24 hours of the storm, I hit the NOAA Tulsa Forecast Office for better details about timing and specific storm risks. For those that trust in Travis Meyer, we are looking at a 4-day severe weather outbreak starting Thursday afternoon. It’s too early to know if tornadoes are going to be in the mix.
The SPC Outlooks are honestly a fantastic tool. They update future ones at least daily, and update the current Day 1 Outlook as new data and soundings come in. They are honestly a daily check for me from I’d say March-October.
Sounds like Tom Skilling! He was my favorite Chicago meteorologist growing up. Didn’t just say something was about to go down, but explained the mechanics of why.
It’s only going to get worse. I’ve watched one political party decry global warming as a hoax for forty years until they couldn’t ignore it any more and now the messaging is it’s part of the Earth’s natural climate cycle. Whelp, we tried but look at how well the stock market and your 401k are doing. SQUIRREL!
Any sharks? Cuz, I saw this documentary once…
As a lad growing up in a nearby state from you, we had a horn in town for such occasions, blew every Friday at noon, or something (it was a long time ago). Not once in 12 years was there a tornado close by.
Can’t say the same for Xenia in 1974, which was likely the reason my town installed the horn.
If I lived in Tornado alley, I’d look into getting myself a Monolithic Dome house
The caterpillar domes @ 12:35 is Monolithic Industries HQ roughly halfway between Austin and Dallas, right off IH35. Always get a kick out of seeing it. I’d love to have them build a home for me in the Texas Hill Country, but I’m not quite at that income bracket yet.
One of my favorite weirdo songs is Fraidy Hole. This is what they call a storm cellar in Oklahoma. Literally every Air B&B I’ve been to there has a fraidy hole nearby.
https://youtu.be/a5axIQAy0UA?si=VdyeQyfX_Pi39oP9
Being a good Midwesterner means knowing the proper action to take in the event of a tornado warning which involves getting somewhere with a good view so you can watch the tornado approach.
I may or may not have been guilty of doing this just to see nothing. Maybe someone needs to take me on a storm chase one day… 🙂
Me too! But in all seriousness stay safe!
There are places that will do it (for a fee of course). I think College of Dupage in Illinois offers trips as well. I’ve entertained the idea; I’d be much happier seeing one in an empty field (hopefully) than in my back yard.
This is why I have a PTZ-enabled security camera on the back of my house (West-facing). Since most storms come from the southwest, I can comfortably sit in my bathroom and stream the storm.
At least my work takes these seriously: all-hands message for every watch (tornado or severe thunderstorm), and mandatory shelter for all warnings for those at work.
Sadly, it’s because people would rather die than be slightly inconvenienced.
i guess people out there be living with that if i die, i die mentality.