Tornadoes of all magnitudes have occurred in our part of the Midwest. From quick spin-ups to long distance wedge tornadoes, we have seen them all. In the past year, local towns like Cameron, Illinois and LeClaire, Iowa were struck. A monster EF-4 occurred just 90 miles to our northeast in Rochelle and Fairdale, Illinois.
Before we look into the one town in our area that has escaped tornadoes so far, let's look at where the tornadoes have occurred in the past 65 years. Because climate records really became reliable since 1950, we'll use that as the start date for our examination. The gallery below shows our local scope with all EF-0s plotted first, EF-1s added next, and so on.
EF-5 is the strongest on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. But no EF-5 has occurred so far in our local area. On May 25, 2008, an EF-5 struck Parkersburg, Iowa. Before then, a level-five classification occurred on August 28, 1990 in Plainfield, Illinois. Of the strongest tornadoes, only six EF-4's have been spawned here at home. So, you're much more likely to be struck by a "weak" tornado.
There is one town that lies farthest away from a tornado path: Green Island, Iowa. Green Island is a tiny community, of only a couple dozen people, in Jackson County. It's located east of US Highway 52, the town is tucked under a bluff near the Mississippi River.
Margaret Mohr has lived in Green Island for 48 years. Before that, she wasn't far away, living on top of the bluff. She recalls living in a mobile home that was buffeted by the wind. Too many storms rattled her home to think it was a safe spot for her growing family.
"I had to call somebody to get me out of there. I couldn't stand the wind. It just felt like I was going to blow away," Margaret said.
Her husband was home for one of the big storms, and it didn't take long for him to agree with his wife. They moved their family into the town of Green Island. Their home, resting in the shadow of the tall bluff, only gets two hours of sunlight each day. Margaret says she puts up with less sunlight, in order to receive a little sense of protection from the prevailing wind.
Knowing that most tornadoes travel from southwest to northeast, it's to see how Green Island, in the direct shadow of the bluff, could somehow be protected. But can we say it is "safe" from tornadoes?
Unfortunately, the solid database for tornadoes only goes back to the 1970s. Donna Dubberke, the Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service Quad Cities says, "Anything before that, only the really big tornadoes were documented. So there's a whole lot of history we just don't know. They could have had one in the past but it just wasn't documented."
When asked if the bluff could offer some protection to Green Island, Dubberke said, "I would never be comfortable saying that any place in the Midwest is safe from a tornado. You've really got to be in a basement to be safe."
Even though Margaret lives under the bluff, she's not going to let the past determine what she does the next time a big storm comes to town.
"I'll watch it and if it gets really windy, I will go to the basement," she said.
The biggest reason we can't say - for a fact - that Green Island is safe, is the fact that tornadoes occur at random. On our makeshift map/dart board, it may not take much time to hit one place twice. But it will take a long time to throw darts and hit every place once.
And we have to look at the fact that some tornadoes do travel from north to south and from east to west, meaning Green Island isn't completely protected by the bluff.
Margaret, living several miles from the nearest documented tornado, knows that there's a chance.
Green Island, Iowa. Lucky? Yes. Safe? Maybe not completely.
And in that instance when it does happen, some solid advice from Donna: "It comes down to what we do to protect ourselves. No one can come to your house, hold your hand, and take you to the basement. Ultimately, it's your own responsibility to do that."