SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A top weather expert in Illinois says as if you needed any more proof recently, tornado patterns are changing.
State Climatologist Trent Ford says “Tornado Alley” — typically Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, is moving east.
“We’ve seen an increase in the last 40 years of tornadoes, and the kind of environments that can create the sort of outbreaks, in the mid-South to kind of southern Midwest,” said Ford. “Pretty much central Illinois south to parts of Tennessee, north Alabama, that sort of thing, Kentucky.”
But, is climate change to blame?
“There’s some studies — modeling studies — that have provided some evidence that there may be an expectation of higher tornado frequency, especially outbreak frequency, in the future because of climate change,” said Ford. “It’s still not enough to say confidently that there is a strong connection.”
What Ford says is true is that there is no such thing, really, as “tornado season”, since they can occur any time of the year, even though the Spring is the most prevalent time.
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