Another Deadly Spate Of Tornadoes In Midwest

Large tornado in Kankakee, Illinois yesterday. The same
supercell that produced this twister created additional
ones in Indiana, leading to two deaths. Photo via
Facebook, Storm Chaser Adam Lucio

 Less than a week after deadly tornadoes struck Michigan, more dangerous twisters swept through Illinois and Indiana last night, killing at least two people. 

The worst of it was in Kankakee County in Illinois and adjacent areas of Indiana. Two people have been confirmed dead in Lake Village, Indiana, where several other people were seriously hurt. 

As ABC 7 in Chicago reported, Lake City Fire Department Chief Rob Churchill said:"Total devastation, there were houses that were collapsed. There werre people trapped in  houses. There is livestock loose. Pretty much anything that you have seen before on newscast and on videos

He said the tornado trampled through 3.5 miles of town. Four firefighters and their own homes badly damaged. 

In Kankakee County, Illinois, nobody was killed by the tornado but nine were injured. Drone video from Kankakee showed houses completely leveled and trees turned into poles, completely stripped of any branches. 

The supercell also created havoc outside the path of the tornado. People in Kankakee said the hail was as big as their hands. One photo taken in the area showed a five to six inch diameter hailstone, which might end up establishing a record for largest hailstone on record for the state of Illinois.

Elsewhere, torrents of rain and hail hit parts of Michigan. In Grand Rapids. the hail fell so heavily that it clogged storm drains, leading to flooding.  Video showed vehicles in water at least up to the windows, with clumps of hail floating on the water. 

Other video from Grand Rapids show large piles of hail left over after being washed down hills. 

Oklahoma City and surrounding towns were under a tornado warning last evening. It's unclear if any tornadoes touched down, but there was wind damage in the metro area. 

Overall, there were 23 reports of tornadoes across the Plains and Midwest on Tuesday. 

The Washington Post is reporting that one reason for the rough start of the 2026 tornado season ins a marine heat wave in the Gulf of Mexico.

Water there has become much warmer than normal. Because the water is so warm, humid southerly winds coming off the Gulf carry more heat and moisture than they usually do. Heat and humidity are key ingredients for a tornado outbreak.

If any of the ingredients are stronger than usual, the severe storms and tornadoes can also become stronger.  

The bad weather had moved east by today. This afternoon, tornado watches are in effect for parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, and in eastern Texas and western Louisiana. 

After that, severe weather looks like it will become more subdues. There is a threat of some strong storms and maybe a few tornadoes in the South Sunday, but that's about it for the next week or so. 

The warmer Gulf waters, brought on by climate change,  have probably in recent years increased the severity of some severe weather outbreaks. That water has also worsened some hurricanes. 

Illinois Disaster Appeal Rejection Shows Once Again Trump Puts Loyalty Above All Else

Flooding in Chicago this past July. Donald Trump is
blocking disaster aid to Illinois, probably mostly
because he doesn't like the state's governor. 

Donald Trump is not liking the Illinois governor, and he's taking it out on flood victims in the state. 

The Trump administration turned down another request from Illinois to help the state recover from severe flash floods in July. That, according to the Washington Post, is despite a recent assessment detailing the the widespread damage and financial losses associated with the disaster. 

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson in a statement tried to paint the Illinois detail as fiscal responsibility. "Gone are the days of rubber stamping FEMA recommendations," Jackson huffed, saying the Trump administration is "committed to empowering and working with State and federal governments to invest in their own resilience before disaster strikes, making response less urgent and recovery less prolonged."

In other words, states must somehow looked into their crystal balls, determine when and what kind of disasters will strike in the future and cough up the millions of dollars they don't have to do these mythical resiliency projects.

Of course, few believe Trump is trying to help Illinois.

First of all, Illinois is a blue state. More importantly, Trump is feuding with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, because the governor objects to Trump's idea of sending  the National Guard deployment in and around Chicago and legally dubious ICE arrests (some would say kidnappings) of people in Illinois. 

Trump, ever the statesman, keeps insulting Pritzker over his weight  (calling the governor a big fat slob on Wednesday) rather than actually dealing with the governor in a rational way. If we're going to get into body shaming, Trump isn't exactly the most svelte character I've ever seen. 

Things have gotten so ridiculous in Illinois that, in early November, Illinois and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials had to remove personnel who were surveilling flood damage in Chicago neighborhoods.

Why? Because immigration agents were patrolling and conducting raids nearby, according to the Washington Post. 

WaPo goes on:

"The decision to halt the disaster assessment teams' work on Nov. 6 came amid an ongoing immigration crackdown in the city, leaving the coordinating state an agency officials worried that FEMA's efforts could put residents as well as surveyors at risk. 

The shift meant about 10 groups of federal, state, county and local workers had to stop work surveying hundreds of homes that sustained heavy water damage in parts of the city hit hard by recent storms - assessments that help the federal agency document disaster impacts, and ca make a case for why an area may need help paying for recovery." 

The whole thing seems suspicious.

Toward the end of October, FEMA's regional administrator told Homeland Security officials about upcoming surveys in the area, as a heads up to avoid conflicts with Homeland Security's immigration crackdowns in Chicago.

As WaPo explained, "It is unclear why immigration agents the ended up in the same place as emergency personnel. Multiple FEMA employees said there were discussions meant to prevent that from happening."

Instead, as FEMA workers set off into a flood-damaged neighborhood, they suddenly saw ICE vehicles and heard whistles - which is a warning people give when ICE comes into an area

So the assessments weren't done. Which might be part of the excuse as to why Trump keeps rejecting disaster aid for Illinois. 

As if the fine citizen of Illinois would suddenly turn MAGA to keep our Orange Cockwomble happy.   

Tornado Update: At Least Nine Dead, Dozens Injured In Big Tornado Outbreak

Severe damage from a tornado Friday in Wynne, Arkansas.
Photo by Ray Sharp, via Facebook and CNN

 The death toll from swarms of tornadoes and intense thunderstorms on Friday is at least nine with dozens injured.

The storms caused damage even more widespread than the tornadoes that afflicted Mississippi last week.  

Nine or more deaths is of course terrible news, but the fact that it wasn't worse is a blessing. 

One factor that probably reduced the death toll was the dire tone of the alerts and warnings issued on Friday. A rare "high risk" alert for tornadoes was issued in parts of the South and Midwest.  As the tornadoes developed, it became clear that some of them, as forecast were quite strong and long lasting. 

Warnings for the tornadoes carried "particularly dangerous situation" alerts which tends to wake up people to the danger even more. 

Another, probably somewhat lesser factor in the could-have-been-worse death toll is many of the tornadoes happened during the day.  Even though we're told not to wait for visual cues when a tornado warning is issued, humans are humans. We instinctive need that jolt to take cover when we see that menacing funnel bearing down on us. 

It appears some of the worst damage was around Little Rock Arkansas and points north and east of there.  The report of 600 injured around Little Rock that I saw turned out to be an exaggeration, but dozens of people were sent to hospitals with tornado injuries in the Little Rock metro area. 

The same supercell thunderstorm that unleashed the tornado in the Little Rock area dropped another powerful twister well to the northeast on the city of Wynne, Arkansas. Two deaths were reported there, along with extensive damage to the community. 

Several tornadoes later roamed the area around Memphis, Tennessee, causing more widespread damage. The twisters avoided the center of Memphis, and instead struck its northern and southern suburbs. 

AccuWeather reported two additional deaths from a likely tornado or tornadoes in Sullivan, Indiana. Widespread damage was also reported in this region, as you might expect. 

In Belvidere, Illinois, a tornado or intense thunderstorm caused much of the roof of the Apollo Theater to collapse during a concert. One of the 260 people inside died and 28 others were injured. 

In Iowa, several large tornadoes roared across the flat landscape. One of the tornadoes caused a lot of damage in Coralville, Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register.

Luckily, though, many of the largest tornadoes threaded the needle and just missed larger Iowa cities such as Ottawa, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Marshalltown and Waterloo. 

Overall, there were 65 preliminary reports of tornadoes in the U.S. on Friday. The number will change as National Weather Service investigators probe the damage swaths. 

Today, the tornado threat is less, but a few twisters could pop up in the Northeast, especially around New Jersey, Delaware and eastern Pennsylvania. 

Signs are pointing toward another possible big tornado and severe weather outbreak early next week in the Midwest and South. 

After that, the weather pattern seems to want to calm down, at least temporarily, so there might be a week or so starting about Wednesday or Thursday in which there won't be many tornadoes, hailstorms or severe thunderstorms. This being April, though, you never know. 

Today's Severe Storm Threat: Monday Morning Update

This morning's severe storm outlook from NOAA's
Storm Prediction Center. Yellow is level two of
five risk levels.  It means there likely will be 
scattered reports of storm damage. If this forecast
map looks familiar, because the map issued 24
hours earlier, which I featured yesterday, is
almost identical to this one. 

Get ready for what seems like will be a rather loud afternoon and evening in the North Country.

We're still setting ourselves up for some severe thunderstorms later today in Vermont, and surrounding areas, such as the rest of northern New England, New York, southern Quebec and elsewhere. 

You'll notice the air this morning has and is changing. It's growing more humid and the dawn air feels like it's going to get hot. 

A few scattered showers and thunderstorms were already racing into parts of Vermont around 7 a.m.  This is part of a warm front that will introduce the really juicy air that will prep the atmosphere for the main show. That main show is expected to start mid to late afternoon.  

After these early morning warm front showers and storms pass, the sun will at least partly come out. Temperatures soar well into the 80s and to possibly near 90 this afternoon.  The heat will help destabilize the air even more, laying the groundwork for the storms. 

The wind will be gusty from the south all day, especially in the Champlain Valley.  That will keep pumping in the humidity fro the south. 

That combination will make it will feel like a severe weather day even before any big storms develop.'

As usual, this will be a hit and miss kind of affair, even as most of us will see thunderstorms. Certain areas will see wind damage from the storms, while people in the next town over will just see lightning and get drenched by a downpour.   

Vermont, along with many of the areas I mentioned above,  are in a slight risk zone for severe thunderstorms, says NOAA's Storm Prediction Center. 

Slight risk is level two in the five point risk chart and means whoever is under such a zone can expect scattered instances of storm related dangers, such as damaging winds, large hail or a tornado.

The overall forecast scenario for storms has not changed much since yesterday.     

The warm front will be well into Quebec by this afternoon, and some sunshine should keep going into the early to mid afternoon around Vermont. That should help make the air more unstable and prime the pump for storms later in the day. 

There is at least one complication to this stormy scenario:

Western New York was already being hit by some strong thunderstorms early today.  They were heading rapidly east and northeast and might make it to or near Vermont later this morning.  The might weaken before they get here, but I wonder if these morning storms will serve to hold down temperatures and stabilize the atmosphere a bit. 

If that happens, and that's a HUGE if, then the severe storm threat would diminish somewhat. 

Still, the atmosphere does seem to want to bubble with storms today, so it's worth it to keep an eye to the skies. My guess is the western and now central New York storms will race by, leaving us in partial sun and humid air after lunch  To me, that means the overall forecast holds, at least for now.

The expected big storms will tend to gather along that pre-frontal trough that I mentioned yesterday. A pre-frontal trough is sort of a mini weather front out ahead of a cold front.   Updrafts are drawn to this trough, so this is where you'd get your thunderstorms. 

Those storms should fire up during the mid-afternoon in New York State and head east.  A few storms might pop up ahead of the main line, and those will need to be watched, too.  These discrete storms -not part of a squall line still have a very low, but not zero chance of producing a brief spin up tornado.

The main risk of course is strong winds. Current forecasts have a pretty solid line of storms coming into western Vermont in the late afternoon or early evening and plowing eastward as the evening wears on. 

You can't tell in advance, like this morning, where the worst storms could form along this line. But if that line forms and approaches, look for parts of the line that sort of bow out in the shape of a backwards "C".   Areas at the apex of any backwards "C" can expect the highest threat from damaging winds. 

I suppose there could be a brief tornado spin up along this line, too, if a particular storm along the line tries to rotate.  But again, the chances of that are slim.  We really need to be on the lookout for strong straight line winds.

Because of the gusty winds all day and the risk of a storm at any time, today is NOT the day to take your boat out onto Lake Champlain. There will be nicer days later in the week for that. 

The timing is such that the strongest storms might be entering western Vermont around the time of the late afternoon and evening commute.  You might not want to be caught out on the highways during the storms, due to blinding rains and wind during the storms.  

The storms will keep moving deeper into Vermont during the evening.  Since the storms will reach southeastern Vermont after dark, instability will be waning, so the storms might also weaken in tandem down there. 

Bottom line: Pay attention to forecasts, and if you hear a severe thunderstorm warning, just stay put in a sturdy building until the storm passes.

I'll update today as warranted. 

 STORMS ELSEWHERE

Tropical Storm Claudette, which moved inland Saturday and weakened to a tropical depression, managed to revive as a tropical storm early today over eastern North Carolina. A little odd to see a tropical system strengthen over land, but things are weird lately, so why not?

Claudette was never a strong storm, but it does demonstrate why you should take even relatively lame tropical storms seriously. Claudette spun of several tornadoes and set off flash floods in spots across the South. 

Thirteen people have died because of this storm, including eight people, mostly children, who died in a fiery Alabama highway wreck caused by vehicles hydroplaning in heavy rain spawned by Claudette.  

In the Midwest, an apparent tornado struck suburbs southwest of Chicago, mostly around Woodridge and Naperville overnight. Easily more than 100 homes were damaged or destroyed, and we have a report of at least one critical injury from the storm. That person was in a house that was completely leveled by the tornado. 

Many other reports of storm damage came in from Missouri, and the northern parts of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.