# Chicago Area Tornadoes **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 22, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-area-tornadoes/659045 "2013-05-22T17:57:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-area-tornadoes/659045/1 "2013-05-22T17:57:03Z")
As a kid I vaguely remember the being told that the proximity of Lake Michigan to Chicago decreased the probability of a tornado in Chicago. Is this true? Secondly, when was the last time a tornado struck within the city limits? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-area-tornadoes/659045/2 "2013-05-22T20:19:05Z")
Here’s a nifty map that tracks the [tornadoes in Cook County](http://www.isws.illinois.edu/atmos/statecli/tornado/NewMaps/Tornadoes-Cook-County-Illinois.png) from 1950-2010. Looks like [nothing recently](http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/05/21/history-of-tornadoes-in-chicago-area/), though. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-area-tornadoes/659045/3 "2013-05-22T20:23:04Z")
Cecil actually addressed [the general topic](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/420/how-come-tornadoes-always-seem-to-wreck-mobile-homes-but-never-cities), to an extent, nearly 30 years ago. In that column, the late Dr. Theodore Fujita (creator of the “Fujita scale” for determining tornado severity) of the University of Chicago indicated that he believed that large cities might block an inrush of cool air, which helps to intensify tornadoes. Dr. Fujita theorized that a city might reduce the severity of a tornado, though it would not make a city “tornado-proof”. This article from [Chicago Magazine](http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/April-2011/Can-a-Tornado-Hit-Downtown-Chicago/) in 2011 indicates that the last tornado to hit downtown Chicago did so in 1876 (and was apparently an F3 in intensity), and that the last tornado to enter any part of Chicago was in 1961; that one ran “from 91st and Western to 68th and Lake Michigan, causing seven million dollars in damage, injuring 115 people, and killing one.” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-area-tornadoes/659045/4 "2013-05-22T20:28:17Z")
From [this page](http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/?n=taw-part2-tornado_myths) on the Milwaukee NWS site, about “Tornado Myths” (pardon the ALL CAPS, it’s written that way on their site): > [@](#): > > …BIG CITIES AND THEIR TALL BUILDINGS ARE PROTECTED FROM > TORNADOES… > > BIG CITIES AND THEIR IMMEDIATE SURROUNDING AREAS ARE NOT > PROTECTED FROM TORNADOES. IN FACT…MANY CITIES ACROSS THE UNITED > STATES HAVE BEEN HIT DIRECTLY WITHIN RECENT TIMES SUCH AS MIAMI… > OKLAHOMA CITY…HOUSTON…FORT WORTH…NASHVILLE AND JOPLIN MO. > EVEN SALT LAKE CITY HAS BEEN DIRECTLY HIT. UTAH ONLY EXPERIENCES > A FEW TORNADOES PER YEAR…BUT THEY CAN STRIKE ANYWHERE. > > SINCE BIG CITIES COVER A RELATIVELY SMALL GEOGRAPHICAL AREA… > THE CHANCES OF A TORNADO STRIKING THAT PARTICULAR AREA ARE RELATIVELY > SMALL…BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE. THE MYTH THAT TALL BUILDINGS PROTECT > CITIES FROM TORNADOES IS FALSE SINCE TORNADOES ARE TYPICALLY 5 TO 10 > MILES IN HEIGHT. A TALL BUILDING WITH A HEIGHT OF 500 TO 1000 FEET > CAN NOT POSSIBLY DEFLECT OR DESTROY A TORNADO. > [@](#): > > …LARGE LAKES PROTECT NEARBY AREAS FROM TORNADOES… > > WHILE COLD WATER AND THE COOL AIR ON TOP OF THE LAKE CAN PROVIDE > FOR A LOCALLY STABLE ENVIRONMENT AT TIMES…CHANCES ARE A > THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING A TORNADO MOVING TOWARD A COLD LAKE HAS > SOMETHING LARGER DRIVING IT THAN THAT COLD WATER CAN INHIBIT. > > IN ADDITION…TYPICAL LAKE BREEZES FOUND ALONG THE LAKE MICHIGAN > SHORE ARE OFTEN SHALLOW AND ONLY AFFECT A SMALL PORTION OF THE LOWER > ATMOSPHERE. WARM AND UNSTABLE AIR ABOVE THIS MARINE LAYER/LAKE BREEZE > COULD VERY WELL SUSTAIN A THUNDERSTORM/S STRENGTH. FOR EXAMPLE…ON > MARCH 8 2000…MILWAUKEE COUNTY EXPERIENCED ITS EARLIEST TORNADO ON > RECORD AT A TIME WHEN LAKE MICHIGAN IS CLIMATOLOGICALLY COLDEST. > > ON AUGUST 8 2011…A WEAK TORNADO SPUN UP ON LAKE MONONA IN THE > CITY OF MADISON. IT STAYED OVER THE LAKE AND DID NOT RESULT IN > DAMAGE. IN FACT…THIS WEAK EF0 TORNADO WAS ASSOCIATED WITH A > RAIN-SHOWER THAT MOVED SOUTH THROUGH THE CITY. THERE WERE NO > THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AREA. > [@](#): > > …MOUNTAINS…RIDGES…RIVER VALLEYS…AND LARGE LAKES INHIBIT > TORNADO DEVELOPMENT AND/OR SPLIT STORMS… > > TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE IN EVERY CORNER OF THE UNITED STATES… > INCLUDING MOUNTAINS…RIDGES…AND RIVER VALLEYS. WHILE CONDITIONS > AREN/T OPTIMAL FOR TORNADO DEVELOPMENT ON TOP OF MOUNTAINS OR > DIRECTLY OVER LAKE MICHIGAN…TORNADOES HAVE BEEN DOCUMENTED TO CROSS > THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS…GO UP AND DOWN A 10 THOUSAND FOOT TALL > MOUNTAIN IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. STRONG TORNADOES HAVE ALSO > BEEN KNOWN TO CROSS THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND OTHER LARGE RIVERS OR > LARGE LAKES. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-area-tornadoes/659045/5 "2013-05-23T02:46:24Z")
The last one I can remember hearing about in the “greater Chicago area” was the one in [January (!) 2008.](http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lot/?n=20080107tor) But that one was all the way out in Harvard, which barely counts as Chicagoland except in the sense of “Metra goes there.” ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-area-tornadoes/659045/6 "2013-05-23T06:00:55Z")
I thought that one was sighted over the north side of the city a few years ago (2010 maybe?), but didn’t touch the ground and didn’t do any major damage. Anyone remember the date of that one? ---
**Author:** ![Mornac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mornac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mornac)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-area-tornadoes/659045/7 "2013-05-25T02:50:02Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I thought that one was sighted over the north side of the city a few years ago (2010 maybe?), but didn’t touch the ground and didn’t do any major damage. Anyone remember the date of that one? –Had to be late August. I had just got off of a plane from France and my brother came to pick us up from ORD. It was perfectly sunny but there was a wall of black closing in from the west. As we drove down the Kennedy, the storm hit with a fury. On the radio people were calling in with reports of “tornado like” occurrences - particularly in Edgewater were we live. By the time we got home, the storm had passed and there were trees down and significant other damage. I remember hearing the word “tornado” in some reports but I don’t remember if anyone positively identified it as such. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-area-tornadoes/659045/8 "2013-05-25T06:39:07Z")
> [@Mornac](#): > > –Had to be late August. I had just got off of a plane from France and my brother came to pick us up from ORD. It was perfectly sunny but there was a wall of black closing in from the west. As we drove down the Kennedy, the storm hit with a fury. On the radio people were calling in with reports of “tornado like” occurrences - particularly in Edgewater were we live. By the time we got home, the storm had passed and there were trees down and significant other damage. I remember hearing the word “tornado” in some reports but I don’t remember if anyone positively identified it as such. That fits exactly with my memories. Was it 2010?