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MASSIVE TORNDO OUTBREAK - IL, IA, WI... (Original Post) 2naSalit 15 hrs ago OP
Oh no, I hate that crap! Brenda 15 hrs ago #1
Stay safe, all! SheltieLover 15 hrs ago #2
Good info Maninacan 14 hrs ago #3
I used to live on... 2naSalit 14 hrs ago #5
There's something coming at you! 2naSalit 13 hrs ago #13
Missed Me Maninacan 11 hrs ago #15
Thank goodness... 2naSalit 9 hrs ago #17
Random off the charts weather systems blow in and blow up. Passages 14 hrs ago #4
I'm concerned... 2naSalit 14 hrs ago #6
We share that fear. All of this is connected imho to climate change. Passages 13 hrs ago #10
Supposed to hit here after midnight. Emile 13 hrs ago #7
Stay safe! Passages 13 hrs ago #11
Good wishes canetoad 13 hrs ago #8
This is just crazy... 2naSalit 13 hrs ago #9
Batten down and stay safe folks malaise 13 hrs ago #12
OMG! I remember reading about this probable forecast wnylib 12 hrs ago #14
Trump cut the budget for weather balloons last year, and now we have gaps in coverage NickB79 11 hrs ago #16

Brenda

(2,077 posts)
1. Oh no, I hate that crap!
Fri Apr 17, 2026, 05:05 PM
15 hrs ago

I have lived through two horrific, historic tornado outbreaks in my life so far: one in Ohio, one in the Deep South.

Hope people take the warnings seriously and prepare, follow the local weather news and live through it.

2naSalit

(103,260 posts)
5. I used to live on...
Fri Apr 17, 2026, 06:22 PM
14 hrs ago

Either side of there. Was in Algonquin, IL when I was married decades ago and Madison, WI & Mt Horeb, WI when I got single afterward. I remember bad storm days like this but they might not have been this bad.

Stay Safe!

Maninacan

(317 posts)
15. Missed Me
Fri Apr 17, 2026, 08:35 PM
11 hrs ago

Very close, took the pups down to the basement. A pine tree snapped and fell across the driveway.
Got it cleared with the battery chainsaw.



2naSalit

(103,260 posts)
17. Thank goodness...
Fri Apr 17, 2026, 10:25 PM
9 hrs ago

It was only that. Last time I was in the vicinity of a twister, I actually wasn't there but my vehicle was and though there was a lot of damage done to the buildings and many trees where it was parked, four tall trees laid down around it and didn't touch it. I did have to wait for the guys with the saws to cut them up so I could leave. Truly surreal.

2naSalit

(103,260 posts)
6. I'm concerned...
Fri Apr 17, 2026, 06:23 PM
14 hrs ago

That this sort of thing may become more common with climate change.

2naSalit

(103,260 posts)
9. This is just crazy...
Fri Apr 17, 2026, 06:36 PM
13 hrs ago

Haven't seen tornado outbreaks like this since the mid 1970s. I used to live in that area in Wisconsin and Illinois.

This is really bad and is the third or fourth day this week that these kind of storms have been happening. Glad I went further east for my last move! We'll get some of the rain but the tornado stuff will not be coming this far east, at least not likely.

wnylib

(26,220 posts)
14. OMG! I remember reading about this probable forecast
Fri Apr 17, 2026, 07:50 PM
12 hrs ago

for today in the Midwest when checking yesterday for any threatening weather in my region (eastern Great Lakes). There was a tornado warning Wednesday not far from me and we've had some bad thunderstorms here this past week so I've been checking weather to the West of us since westerly winds often bring storms this way.

Hope people stay safe. From what I read, It was expected to get really bad in the Midwest today.

NickB79

(20,386 posts)
16. Trump cut the budget for weather balloons last year, and now we have gaps in coverage
Fri Apr 17, 2026, 08:40 PM
11 hrs ago
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/weather-balloons-stop-trump-cuts-forecasts-less-accurate-rcna198055

Twice a day — at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET — meteorologists simultaneously launch the balloons, which are equipped with instruments called radiosondes that measure temperature, humidity and wind speed. They rise about 15 feet per second for two hours, traveling through layers of the atmosphere and sending pings of data back using radio waves.

When the air gets too thin, the balloons pop and fall back to Earth with little parachutes — mission complete.

Data from the balloons feeds into weather models that are the backbone of forecasts across the United States, whether they’re delivered by a local television broadcaster or on your iPhone.

But many of the release sites — at least 10 in the continental United States — have suspended or limited launches because of the Trump administration’s cuts to the National Weather Service staff.


Expect a lot more "unforeseen" extreme weather events to occur, with much less warning.
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