How normal are the storms in the heartland?Is it bizarre or

[babylonsister]

standard ops? It sounds pretty bad to me, and I want to connect it to global warming, but I
could be really off course.

[DanCa]

1. I saw on the local news that we had 2x the number of tornados this year.

This was the local fox affilate so take that number with a grain of salt.

[madrchsod]

4. did you guys get hail this last storm?

you are about 50 miles north of where i am..

[DanCa]

6. No not in my area of Illinois

we did have a cold rain though and alot of lightning. .

[madrchsod]

2. the only thing i`ve noticed here in northern illinois

is that each thunderstorm i`ve seen there has been hail but so far only small hail stones. i don`t think it is not to bad a spring yet..i`m 59 so i have seen a few.

[DanCa]

12. Didn't it actually snow one easter morning several years back?

I think it was in the early nineties. I can't remember.

[Sal Minella]

16. I've seen snow in May in northwest Iowa, decades ago.

[NaturalHigh]

3. Pretty normal here.

We always have some pretty rough spring storms here in Oklahoma. If anything, we've had fewer this year. It has been unusually dry, though.

[Zynx]

5. We have good and bad years.

There was a record tornado outbreak in Wisconsin a little less than ten years ago that the state hasn't seen in a while. At the same time there are other parts of the region that have had unbelievable weather recently.

[madrchsod]

7. the closest i`ve ever been

to a tornado is in baraboo and the dells while i was on vaction. walked out of wal mart in baraboo into a tornado warning and watched it go east of town. the time in the dells the storm went just south of the cities.

[Extend a Hand]

8. We normal high winds and thunderstorms out of the

storms last night. A week or so ago, here in SW OH we had alternating periods of snow, rain, hail, and sunshine all in one day. That was kind of weird.

[Roland99]

9. 32 years ago was the massive outbreak that hit the Midwest

Xenia, OH was hit the worst but there was plenty of damage here in Louisville.

[babylonsister]

10. Thanks for your input. I feel a bit better. On the downside,

I have a pool that was never invaded til the end of April, and it's almost warm enough to swim. Today was close to 85-90 degrees in Houston. That really sucks, and I'm thinking hurricanes. :-(
And no valid FEMA or DHS personnel to take control? Oy! :cry:

[highplainsdem]

11. 4 to 5 times the usual number of tornadoes so far, according to ABC,

CNN, and AccuWeather. I was going to post about that when I switched from CNN to MSNBC, caught the news about Tom Delay, and posted about that instead (seconds after FrenchieCat's thread, so mine was folded into that one).

I wasn't sure if a thread on the weather would get much attention after that, but I'm glad you posted one.

[highplainsdem]

13. Oh, and it IS connected to global warming. ABC referred to the Gulf temps

being higher than usual as a contributing factor to the tornadoes in the Midwest.

[Occulus]

14. Midwest storms this time of year are very normal, HOWEVER,

this year seems to be shaping up as more violent than I've seen in previous years. Global warming, don't ya know; when I hear people say it's not warmer, it's colder, or something to that effect, I tell them global warming really means global extremes- when there's a 'cold snap', it's more of a shattering fracture, and so on.

The number of the tornadoes we see this year, along with the when of the first major hurricane and the frequency of those after, will tell us everything we need to know and wake up (too late!) a whole lot of people. I think this year is going to have some bad weather, if what we've seen in the past six-eight months is any indication.

I'd be happy if I'm wrong, because I live in Michigan... prime real estate for potentially violent weather. That lake is big, and routinely creates its own weather further inland. This spring and summer are likely to be interesting for us, meteorologically speaking.

[SoCalDem]

15. Life in tornado alley can be tumultuous

..The storms have always happened..there are just more people living in harm's way..:(

[RoyGBiv]

17. This is, mostly, normal ...

Tornado Alley has shifted somewhat, and the frequency of violent storms in parts of the Midwest has increased recently. Unfortunately, it is difficult to know exactly to what degree this is related to climate change and how much of it is simply a better understanding of the storms themselves. The reason is that detailed data on these storms has only been available fairly recently. Less than 30 years ago, the National Weather Service was working with paper plot maps, very raw satellite images, and relying on visual sightings from spotters, many of whom weren't trained meteorologists, to gather and analyze data. As recently as the 80's we had the "hook echo" as the only indication that a violent thunderstorm likely producing a tornado was present. Now we have instruments that tell us the point at which air is circulating and capable of producing a tornado. In its immediate application, this is all a part of better weather prediction, allowing meteorologists to give better warnings. In its long term applications, it allows us to developed a better understanding of patterns and to analyze intensity with quantifiable data rather than subjective visual and verbal descriptions.

[NNN0LHI]

18. I was born in the midwest and lived here for 51 years. I vote normal n/t

[laundry_queen]

19. Last year was an extremely 'slow' spring for tornadoes.

So it may make this year seem wild in comparison.
(Although I'm no expert, just haunt a lot of storm chasing sites.)