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PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 904 PM CDT THU AUG 27 2015 ...MOST TORNADOES ON RECORD IN NWS CHICAGO FORECAST AREA IN 2015... THE FOUR TORNADOES ON AUGUST 18 2015 BROUGHT THE TOTAL NUMBER OF CONFIRMED TORNADOES IN THE COUNTIES OF THE NWS CHICAGO COUNTY WARNING AREA (CWA) IN 2015 UP TO 29. THIS BROKE THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF MOST TORNADOES IN THE NWS CHICAGO CWA COUNTIES IN A YEAR SET IN 2004...WHICH HAD 27 TORNADOES. THE PERIOD OF RECORD IS 1950-2015. NOTE THAT IT IS LIKELY THAT MANY OF THE EARLIER YEARS IN THE DATASET HAD WEAK (F0-F1) TORNADOES THAT WENT UNDETECTED. THE MODERN NETWORK OF SPOTTERS AND IMPROVED RADAR TECHNOLOGY HAS ALLOWED FOR BETTER DETECTION OF WEAK TORNADOES. THIS INCLUDES THE INTRODUCTION OF CURRENT DOPPLER RADAR TECHNOLOGY TO THE NWS IN 1992 AND DUAL POLARIZATION IN 2012. WITH THAT BEING SAID... 2015 HAS BEEN AN EXCEPTIONALLY ACTIVE YEAR FOR TORNADOES IN THE NWS CHICAGO FORECAST AREA. TOP 10 MOST TORNADOES IN NWS CHICAGO CWA COUNTIES IN A CALENDAR YEAR -------------------------------------------------------------------- RANK YEAR NUMBER OF TORNADOES ---- ---- ------------------- 1 2015 29 2 2004 27 3 1974 22 2010 22 4 1965 21 5 2003 18 2008 18 2011 18 2014 18* ALL TORNADOES OCCURRED ON 6/30 10 1967 17 1972 17 2013 17 THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF TORNADOES PER YEAR IN THE COUNTIES OF THE NWS CHICAGO CWA FROM 1950-2015 IS 9 (8.98). THE CURRENT LOCATION OF NWS CHICAGO AND THE KLOT WSR-88D DOPPLER RADAR OPENED IN 1992. THIS IS ALSO WHEN THE CURRENT ALIGNMENT OF COUNTIES IN THE CWA DATES BACK TO. THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF TORNADOES IN THE NWS CHICAGO CWA FROM 1992-2015 IS 11 (10.8). NWS CHICAGO CWA COUNTIES ------------------------ IL: BOONE, COOK, DE KALB, DUPAGE, FORD, GRUNDY, IROQUOIS, KANE, KANKAKEE, KENDALL, LAKE, LA SALLE, LEE, LIVINGSTON, MCHENRY, OGLE, WILL, WINNEBAGO IN: BENTON, JASPER, LAKE, NEWTON, PORTER $$ RC/MTF/BMD
* These statistics were compiled largely from the 1950-2014 US Tornadoes Database at the Storm Prediction Center WCM Page.
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