It’s been 20 years.
Normal hasn’t seen a tornado in two decades.
However on April 17, 2026, not one, not two, but three EF1-level tornadoes went through and wreaked havoc on our town.
Illinois has always known for unpredictable and crazy weather, whether it is snowing in April or a 70 degree day in the winter.
Class of 2018 Normal West graduate, Benjamin Young saw the tornado form.
Young reported cases of damage to news sources all around Bloomington-Normal.
“Watching the local news, they had the weather camera pointed right in the direction of my house. It looked like we saw a tornado on TV from that weather camera, but we could not confirm. I went outside, and both saw the same thing at the same time, and that was the formation of a tornado,” Young stated.
However, what Young witnessed that night was more than just another storm. It was a reminder that weather is unpredictable.
“After the tornado passed over, we walked outside and observed damage. A parking garage across the street was completely demolished, whole trees were uprooted out of the ground, and it was just a madhouse.
“My first thought was that I wanted to go around and observe damage and detect to see if the damage happened in a linear path, which usually indicates tornado damage,” Young noted.
Many residents were left with damaged property, trees taken out of the ground, and widespread power
outages.
All of the damage left residents checking the weather and looking out for the erratic weather.
In particular, places that were hit directly by the tornado was Rivian Motorway, General Electric Road, and some of veterans parkway.
While some residents were left shocked by the weather, others were more excited about the rarity of the events.
Aspiring meteorologist and 2025 Normal West grad, Tyler Hoss is currently studying meteorology at Iowa State; however, that did not stop him from getting involved with the rare weather in Central Illinois.
One particular interest for Hoss is the mass number of tornadoes that Illinois has seen over the past few years.
“Illinois has certainly had some active tornado years in recent times, such as 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026. Now, that being said, I do think it is too early still to call Illinois the new tornado alley, given that in years such as 2024, our tornado numbers were greatly inflated by a single event that produced many weak tornadoes.
If we continue to see multiple tornado events in a single year in Illinois for the next five years, certainly this claim could become more supported,” Hoss noted.
This theory of adding Illinois to “tornado alley” started at the beginning of 2026 and is slowly becoming more and more believable, considering that there have been over one hundred tornadoes in Illinois since the start of 2026, and it’s only May.
Another topic of interest for Hoss is called the ‘bubble theory,’ which states that Bloomington-Normal is shielded from tornadoes and other dangerous winds due to the altitude being higher than surrounding areas.
Although Hoss calls this more of a ‘misconception’ rather than a theory.
“This is very false; in fact, this was completely proven false just a few weeks ago when our town saw two EF-1 tornadoes,” Hoss stated.
From firsthand witnesses like Benjamin Young, to aspiring meteorologists like Tyler Hoss, one thing is sure: tornadoes and extreme storm are starting to become a serious reality for Central Illinois.
Whether you believe in “The Bubble Theory” or not, recent events have shown that weather can impact anyone at anytime.
