It's actually Illinois seeing the most tornadoes of anywhere in the country, as the climate warms. In tonight's climate watch, meteorologist David Yeomans is back digging into a concerning trend over the past few years and what you need to prepare for.
It was just ten months ago that a strong ef one tornado ripped down 21st ave in Gary with winds of up to 110 miles an hour. as residents continue to work to clean up the damage, new roofs are a common sight.
yeah, this is where the hole was in the house. i just temporarily boarded up until i get done situating everything as far as insurance and stuff like that, but. alexis rivera looks at the scars the tornado left behind.
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‘I never would have guessed that Illinois would have led the nation in tornadoes two out of the last three years and that third year we were number two in the nation’
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you see how the power lines down. a day she will never forget. my kids start freaking out heard a big boom and went black. when we looked out back, it was like completely gray and stuff flying everywhere. it was a lot of people scrambling. a lot of people scared.
in the months since, nearby homes have been repaired and the gymnasium down the street rebuilt. but the next tornado may not be far behind. Illinois led the nation in number of tornadoes in both 2023 and 2025. a huge spike over our long term average. We've had some of the most incredible tornado years in illinois history happen just in just in the last few years. That is some arctic air that comes in late. but that. dr. victor gensini of northern illinois university is a severe storm expert with two decades of experience studying where tornadoes happen.
What we've seen over the last 40 years is fewer tornadoes, actually, in places like texas and oklahoma and more tornadoes in places like the mid-south. so memphis, nashville, indianapolis, chicago. Other recent studies support that finding, showing tornado alley shifting into Illinois.
Here's how this is connected to climate change.
As the climate warms, the traditional tornado alley over here in the plains is expected to become drier and more desert like. that shifts the ingredients that form tornadoes farther east and leads to more tornadoes here at home.
So the same tornado event that happens in Kansas that may have occurred in a wheat field is now happening in southern Cook county. and the entire track of that tornado is impacting people.
people like alexis and her kids. it makes me nervous for them. like i said, we're more aware now and alert as far as safety when it comes to natural disasters and things like that. but it worries me. it does. it stay on my mind.
Researchers say this rise in Illinois tornadoes does line up with what they expect in the future in a warming climate, but they also said it's still too soon to say whether this is it happening right now, or if this is maybe a short term bump along the way there. i always think of exactly what they said. the people that are impacted by this and how there could be so many more. yeah, absolutely. i never would have guessed that we would have led the nation two out of the last three years. and that third year we were number two in the nation. so it's really been pretty incredible. and april, may, june, those are typically the months-
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