Illinois
Warmer winters and a hotter Gulf of Mexico could be contributing to more tornadoes in Illinois, experts say
Illinois saw more tornadoes than any other state in 2023. Byron Hurley experienced that reality firsthand after three tornadoes touched down near his Chatham home in central Illinois last year.
“My house got hit on May 7. May 14 was a nasty supercell that hit Chatham,” Hurley said. “We also got some large hail on July 23. I rode that storm out in my car, taking cover at a drop-off area at a church just outside Chatham.”
According to Matthew Elliott, a meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Illinois experienced 118 tornadoes last year — the third most in its history. The numbers have not yet been finalized, Elliott said, but are unlikely to change.
The number of tornadoes in any state fluctuates significantly from year to year, said Jeff Frame, a professor of climate, meteorology and atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois. According to Frame, the biggest component is the state’s number of “outbreaks.”
The Glossary of Meteorology, published in 2000, describes a tornado outbreak as multiple tornado occurrences caused by the same weather event.
The third biggest tornado outbreak on record in Illinois occurred March 31, 2023, with 36 tornadoes in one day. The second largest outbreak was 50 years ago in 1974. Frame said most years with high numbers of tornadoes see at least one tornado outbreak.
“Weather patterns in 2022 were not conducive to a lot of thunderstorms and tornadoes,” Frame said. “But in 2023, they were helped along by a couple of big events, starting with a large tornado outbreak across the U.S.”
The 2023 numbers were a significant increase from the 34 tornadoes recorded in Illinois in 2022. Nationwide, NOAA preliminarily confirmed 1,269 tornadoes in 2023.
Studies have also found climate change may be affecting tornado patterns. Victor Gensini, a professor at Northern Illinois University, said climate change can affect the conditions necessary to create tornadoes.
Tornadoes need instability –– warm moist air near the ground with cooler temperatures higher up –– and wind shear –– a change in wind speed or direction –– to form. Instability is more potent in the warm seasons, and shear is usually stronger in the winter.
As winters get warmer, Gensini said, there can be more instability and more shear –– leading to more winter tornadoes.
“It kind of has been a good example of what to expect with a warming climate with a much warmer winter, a much earlier start to spring, in a much faster start to tornado season,” Gensini said. “But we’re not sure if that’s a climate change signal or if that’s a signal of just weather or climate variability.”
According to Elliott, data has been inconsistent on the impact of climate change on tornadoes. But, he said, the times of year and the locations of tornadoes seem to be changing.
Walker Ashley, a professor of Earth, atmosphere and environment at Northern Illinois University, said increasing temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico may be affecting the number of tornadoes in states to its north –– including Illinois.
A hotter Gulf increases low-level moisture, which creates conditions ripe for tornadoes, Ashley said
“If the Gulf of Mexico is heating up under climate change, and we’ve seen it’s running hot, that increases your moisture and your instability,” Ashley said. “It makes sense the eastern part of the United States would heat up.”
Still, researchers cautioned against holding climate change entirely responsible for changing weather patterns in Illinois.
Technologies used to detect and predict tornadoes have adapted significantly over the last few decades, and are likely to have affected the number of tornadoes observed and recorded in Illinois –– especially since the state’s tornadoes tend to be low in intensity.
According to the National Weather Service, nearly 37% of tornadoes in northern Illinois from 1950 to 2017 were EF0 — the lowest intensity a tornado can be. Only 2% were classified as “violent.”
Out of the 22 days with tornado activity in 2023, four days caused injuries, two days saw property damage, and there were no days with crop damage, according to NOAA.
Hurley said the tornadoes that passed by his home in Chatham only caused tree damage. A conservationist who does storm chasing in his free time, Hurley said he followed multiple other tornadoes in Illinois last year, including one that started near Loami, 10 miles west of Chatham, on Aug. 6.
“I saw the beginning. … I had a great view of the wall cloud and bowl funnel near Loami but only got to see it briefly before falling too far behind,” Hurley said. “On Aug. 6, I got hailed on in Taylorville as well. It was a wild year, that’s for sure.”
Taylorville is about 30 miles southwest of Chatham.
Frame added that metropolitan areas throughout Illinois have also expanded in the past couple of decades. While lower-level tornadoes in rural areas may have gone undetected in the past, cellphones and population sprawl make them harder to miss in the 21st century.
“What we’re able to do is detect a lot more of these tornadoes with more spotters, better reporting technology, cellphones and internet, and better radar technology,” Frame said. “In 1960 you’re just never going to see those reports, because the technology and the infrastructure wasn’t there.”
While experts remain conflicted about the impacts of climate change on the number of tornadoes, they said Illinois residents should remain on high alert.
“It’s been an active year,” Gensini said. “I think we all need to be anticipating more of these tornado disasters. And that’s regardless of what’s happening with the frequency of climate change. Climate change is playing a role, an important role, but it’s not the only role.”
COLLINSVILLE, Ill. (First Alert 4) – Right now, in Illinois, Missouri and most of the country, drivers must be at or over 0.08 to get a DUI. A proposal in the Illinois Statehouse would lower that threshold.
“Make it as safe as you possibly can out there,” said John Sapolis.
Collinsville resident John Sapolis said while lowering Illinois’ DUI threshold would not affect him, as he rarely drinks, he likes the idea of getting drinkers off the road.
“It’s bad enough out there driving around with people who are not drinking,” said Sapolis.
If a bill passes in the Illinois House of Representatives, the blood alcohol limit would be lowered, meaning fewer drinks could put somebody over the line for a DUI.
Two Chicago-area lawmakers propose lowering the threshold from 0.08 to 0.05.
“Your body still is not in a proper state to really be behind the wheel,” said Erin Doherty, Regional Executive Director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Doherty said even at 0.05, drivers are less coordinated and cannot track moving objects as well as when they are sober.
Utah is the only state in the country to have the 0.05 limit, and Doherty said one in five drivers there changed their behavior.
“There are so many other options before getting behind the wheel,” said Doherty.
Sara Floyd used to live in Utah and now calls Collinsville home.
“The Midwest people like to have a few beers while they watch their Little League games
“In Utah, you can barely get alcohol at a gas station,” said Floyd.
She said the culture in Utah is very different and thinks there should be some wiggle room for drivers.
“If one person had a beer within an hour period and then drove, they shouldn’t get a DUI for one drink,” said Floyd.
Doherty said they do not recommend driving even after a single drink.
“You really should not get behind the wheel when you’re any kind of impaired, one drink, five drinks, whatever that looks like, just don’t drive,” said Doherty.
While each body processes alcohol differently, according to the National Library of Medicine, in a two-hour period it takes a 170-pound man three to four drinks to reach 0.05, and it takes a 137-pound woman two to three drinks to reach the same state.
April Sage said she does not think this law would work, saying instead it would help more if the state added more public transit.
“I could have three beers and get a ride home safely,” said Sage.
First Alert 4 reached out to a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Transportation to see if they had any comments on this bill. The spokesperson said they are not going to comment because it is pending legislation.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, fatal crashes involving one driver who had been drinking increased 4% from 2019 to 2022, despite multiple studies showing fewer Americans are drinking.
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Illinois voting data shows voters had no choice of candidate in nearly 9-in-10 Democratic and Republican primaries for state and federal office in 2024.
Voters had no choice of candidate in nearly nine out of every 10 Republican and Democratic primary elections for state and federal office in 2024.
Analysis of Illinois voting data shows Democrats ran one or no candidate in 135 of the 155 primary elections for the U.S. House, Illinois Senate and Illinois House. That left voters with a choice between candidates in just 20 races.
Meanwhile, Republicans only ran one or no candidate in 137 of the 155 primary elections last year for non-judicial state and federal positions, giving voters of a choice in just 18 races.
In total, there were 155 primaries for the U.S. House of Representatives, Illinois Senate and Illinois House in 2024. Democrats did not run a candidate in 28 of these races while Republicans failed to run a candidate in 50.
And in the 107 Democratic primaries and 87 Republican primaries were only one candidate ran for the position, those candidates secured their spot on the general election ballot with a single primary vote.
To get on the primary ballot for Illinois Senate, the Illinois General Assembly mandates established party candidates to get 1,000 petition signatures from district party members. Illinois House candidates need 500 signatures. For U.S. House, either party’s candidates need signatures from 0.5% of all primary voters from their party in the district.
This lack of choice between candidates for Democratic and Republican party primaries also left general election voters with fewer choices on the ballot.
In the 2024 election cycle, 65 of the 155 non-judicial state and federal general elections had only one candidate on the ballot. That means in 65 districts, it only took one vote for a candidate to win a seat representing the entire district.
Illinoisans already suffer from a lack of choice in candidates. Research shows an average of 4.7 million Illinois voters had no choice in their state representative between the 2012 and 2020 election cycles.
Research shows more choice drives voter participation and makes legislators less susceptible to the influence of lobbyists and special interests. Lightly contested elections also tend to skew policies in favor of powerful special interests.
Illinois should consider reforms that will give voters more choices at the ballot box, such as making it easier for independents to enter the general election like they do in Iowa, Wisconsin and Tennessee.
Until that happens, Illinoisans will continue to see elections with too few choices and too much influence handed to those already in power.
MORRIS, Ill. (WLS) — A man was killed and another was injured in a shooting outside of a bar in Grundy County.
The shooting happened early Saturday outside of Clayton’s Tap in the 100 block of West Washington Street in Morris, Illinois, officials said.
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The Grundy County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene, where they found two men with gunshot wounds. One was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
The victim who died was identified by the Grundy County Coroner’s Office as 35-year-old Julian Rosario of Channahon.
A suspect in the shooting, 22-year-old Marshall Szpara of Seneca, was arrested and “initially charged with two counts of aggravated battery with a firearm, pending further review from the Grundy County States Attorney’s office,” Morris police said.
No further information was available.
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