Chicago has been hit by a number of tornadoes. Official records go back as far as 1950. Since then, Chicago itself has been hit by an F2 tornado in March 4, 1961, an F1 tornado on May 29, 1983, and an F0 tornado on September 22, 2006. Even more tornadoes have hit the greater Chicago area. The worst of these was the F4 that hit Oak Lawn on April 21, 1967. Before official records, in 1871 an F3 tornado tore through downtown Chicago.
No. First of all, there seems to be a some confusion here. The Oak lawn tornado outbreak was not a tornado, it was an outbreak of at least 45 tornadoes across the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. Second, the F4 tornado that struck Oak Lawn was not the only tornado in the area of Chicago. Among other events, an F3 tornado struck downtown Chicago in 1871, an F4 tornado hit Bolingbrook in 1976, and an F5 tornado hit Plainfield in 1990.
Chicago is a relatively small target for a tornado to strike and so unlikely to be hit. So it really is only by chance that tornadoes have missed Chicago. However, tornadoes have occurred in the Chicago area, so it is entirely possible for one to hit the city itself.
It is impossible to make long term predictions of whether or when a specific location will have a tornado. When we do determine that a town or city is going to be hit, the time to the tornado's impact is measured in minutes.
Yes. Contrary to popular belief, downtown areas of major cities are not protected against tornadoes. The Chicago areas has been hit by tornadoes before, and it is only by chance that none have hit downtown Chicago in recent years.
"A tornado hit the barn." would be a sentence.
Yes, tornadoes are not uncommon in northern Illinois. One the most notable of these was the F5 tornado that struck Plainfield, Illinois, not far from Chicago, on August 28, 1990 killing 29 people.
Yes. Contrary to popular belief, downtown areas of major cities are not protected against tornadoes. The Chicago areas has been hit by tornadoes before, and it is only by chance that none have hit downtown Chicago in recent years.
There were no tornadoes in Chicago in 2009.
The last tornado to hit the United States as of May 2014 was on April 28th. The tornado hit residents living in the state of Kansas.
It is impossible to predict when any given location will be hit by a tornado.
It is impossible to predict when the next tornado will hit any given location.
The last tornado to hit Taylor was the summer of 1980.