Tornados in Minnesota and Wisconsin

Written By: Mike DeNora

There are some tornado warnings in effect in the Minnesota and Wisconsin area for the rest of today. Many people outside of the mid-west region see tornadoes as destructive funnels that can plow through and wipe out a large area. Sometimes, this is true, when a tornado with a rating of a 2 or a 3 on the Fujita scale passes through. However, many tornadoes are observed that cause little damage to anything. In fact, between January and May of 2010 we have spotted 454 tornadoes in the US. This may seem like quite a few but we are actually in a down year as the average per year over this period of time is over 600.

When looking for a tornado in a severe thunderstorm, meteorologists look for something called a hook echo on the radar. This hook echo signifies that a tornado is developing and very soon will occur in the area. It is important for the meteorologist to immediately report this news to make the public aware of an oncoming disaster. In our area we rarely see tornadic activity because our region usually doesn't have the right ingredients for them. However, we will see some of the effects of severe weather in the mid-west. While we won't be getting any weather comparable to this in the near future, this cold front coming through will spark some thunderstorms and rain on Friday.