DOWNTOWN — Cook County is under a tornado watch until 11 p.m., but Chicagoans have little reason to worry a twister will touch down here.
Chicago magazine's Whet Moser in 2011 explored the science behind the notion that tornadoes don't form above big cities. He cited a study by a University of Chicago scientist theorizing that dense, urban areas produce "heat islands" that disrupt the formation of small tornadoes. The sheer height of skyscrapers could also be disruptive.
Or, given the rarity and short life span of tornadoes in general, it could just be coincidence.
WGN Meteorologist Tom Skilling told Moser the last time a tornado hit Chicago was in 1961, when an F2 spun northeast from 91st Street and Western Avenue to 68th Street and Lake Michigan. One person was killed and 115 were injured during the storm.
Before then, a tornado did hit Downtown on Wabash Avenue in 1876, killing two people. But Chicago, just then emerging from the Great Chicago Fire, surely did not produce the heat the city's skyscrapers do today.
Read more here and be careful out there.
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