La Niña could supercharge this year’s tornado season, just like it did to deadly effect in 2011

(CNN) A massive cold air outbreak over the central US in early February set hundreds of cold temperature records, stretching the power grid in Texas and leaving millions without power. Sound familiar? The year was 2011, when a moderate La Niña weather pattern and an active jet stream generated the scenario that’s almost identical to…

Weather Service tells Congress radar gaps don’t hurt warning accuracy, but outside scientists disagree

Weather forecasters around the country strive to warn communities in advance of every tornado that touches down, each flash flood that is about to occur and each winter weather event. One of the most reliable and costly tools at a meteorologist’s disposal for issuing watches and warnings is a network of 159 Doppler radars across…

January’s Tornado Threat is Highest in the South and There Have Been Large Outbreaks

January’s reputation for bone-chilling cold usually doesn’t make you think of tornadoes ripping up homes and trees, but they happen most years, and sometimes there can be large outbreaks. The South is the region most likely to experience tornadoes in January, and occasionally tornadoes can spin up farther north. This so-called Dixie Alley is most…

Chicago is not tornado-proof. Here’s why.

Despite being known as the Windy City, Chicago has developed a false reputation as being impervious to tornadoes. In its history, Chicago has seen very few tornadoes compared with the rest of Illinois, which, as a whole, sees dozens of tornadoes annually and has endured the nation’s deadliest tornado, the 1925 Tri-State tornado that left…

Tornado activity shift puzzles scientists

WEST LAFAYETTE — Tornado season, generally spanning from March to June, is upon us. There were more than 130 reports of tornadoes across the country during the last two weeks of May, and earlier this year, 23 people were killed in a cluster of tornadoes near the border of Georgia and Alabama. Although tornado deaths…