UPDATE: Illinois Severe Weather Preparedness Week

Today we continue along with Illinois Severe Weather Preparedness Week. Yesterday we talked about watches and warning. Today we're going to talk about how you can prepare for severe weather. Always have a way to receive watches and warning, such as a weather radio or the First Warn Weather App. Make sure you have a severe weather plan in case of inclement weather, and the key is to practice it so you are prepared. You should also make sure your home is prepared in advance of severe weather.

One type of severe weather that we can see here in Rockford is hail.

Hail comes in many different sizes from pea to grapefruit sized. Normally anything larger than quarter and half dollar sized hail is known as severe. The largest hailstone reported in Illinois was back on June 10th, 2015. It measured 4.75" and fell two miles north-northwest of Minooka.



Speaking of severe weather, the National Weather Service has confirmed the tornado that ripped though Lee County, Alabama was preliminarily an EF-4 tornado with winds of 170mph. The tornado resulted in 23 deaths. This is the first EF-4 tornado since April 29th, 2017.





The last EF-4 tornado before the Lee County, Alabama was in Canton, TX over 650 days ago. It has been 2,115 days since the last EF-5 tornado, and that was back in May of 2013 in Moore, OK.