All DeKalb-area residents can remember the violent and deadly tornado that tore through Rochelle and Fairdale last April, leveling houses and trees in its path. At the next STEM Café, “Tornado Tracking: How Meteorologists Predict and Pursue Storms,” NIU associate professor Walker Ashley will tell the story of how he forecast and chased the tornado....

Each year, Illinois gets hit with more than 60 tornadoes, on average, and ranks in the Top 10 for the most tornadoes of any state in the nation. The odds of one or more tornadoes hitting a portion of DeKalb County is at least one in three every year. Our area also encounters 60 mph...

On the early evening of April 9, 2015, a large, violent tornado moved across portions of Lee, Ogle, DeKalb and McHenry counties, with winds as high as 195 mph. DeKalb County’s small community of Fairdale sustained a direct hit from the twister, which killed two and injured dozens of others. Unfortunately, the odds of some...

The April 9 tornado that ripped through the towns of Fairdale and Rochelle passed less than a half-hour away from the Northern Illinois University campus. In the weeks following the devastation, it’s not surprising that members of the Huskie community have moved forward together to aid in the recovery effort. “NIU staff and students have...

For storm chasers, the coming of spring means one thing: tornadoes. Recent tornado-related disasters have led experts to wonder how climate change is affecting the frequency and intensity of these destructive storms. At the next STEM Café, NIU STEM Outreach will present “Chasing the Storm: Tornadoes in a Warming World.” This free presentation and discussion...

As the severe weather season approaches, NIU Weather and the NIU American Meteorological Society are offering the opportunity to become a trained weather spotter. The weather spotters training will take place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 18, in the Cole Hall Auditorium. This event is free, open to the public and does not require pre-registration...

Counselors in the College of Education’s Department of Counseling, Adult and Higher Education (CAHE) will offer counseling in response to Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated the Philippines on Nov. 8, and the Nov. 16 tornadoes that struck Illinois. “Our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in the university community who has been – or...

Meredith Wood never thought about pursuing a science degree because she was not confident in her mathematics skills. After taking a meteorology class at the College of DuPage (COD) and going on a storm-chasing trip, however, she was hooked. “I was fortunate enough to see many supercell storms and tornadoes. It was absolutely unreal,” Wood...

  Had Dorothy left her Kansas home for the secure, StormReady confines of NIU, she would have had no need to fear the twister that whirled through her quaint rural town before sending her to Oz. For the ninth consecutive year, NIU has been certified as a StormReady University by the National Weather Service for...

At 10 a.m. today, the National Weather Service will conduct its annual statewide tornado drill. As part of the drill: Your NOAA All-Hazards radio will go off for this test. The tornado warning that is issued will clearly state that it is a test. For those on NIU Weather e-mail lists, you’ll get the test...