New Illinois Law Requires Weather Radios In Certain Homes

It's been a rough tornado season and a new Illinois law is taking aim at that.

We can all agree it's been a messy summer. In the Chicago area alone last week, there were 33 tornadoes, compared to their usual 5 or 6 per year. With the derecho that moved through last week, 5 tornadoes rolled through the QCA. In Iowa, May was ridiculous. We average 11 tornadoes in May. But this year, we had over 80 tornadoes in May alone.

So all that to say, it's been an insane tornado season.

@weatherchannel Drone footage out of Elwood and Channahon, Illinois, shows the damage after thunderstorms and tornadoes struck throughout the Midwest. #TheWeatherChannel #fyp #Chicago #storm #storms #news #weather #weathertok #weatherchannel #drone #dronefootage #Midwest ♬ original sound - The Weather Channel

That's why, the same week as the last round of nasty storms hit Illinois and Iowa, HB5238 was passed in the Illinois House.

The Illinois law requires weather radios to be installed in manufactured homes built after 2023.

It's a good idea for traditional houses to have weather radios too. But the law includes mobile homes or spaces that were built in a factory on a plot of land. An official with the National Weather Service said that those houses aren't safe and people in them need at least two ways to be notified if severe weather is headed that way.

Which, if you've ever been near a weather radio when it goes off, you are indeed notified. It's way louder than your phone. I hit the ceiling when my family's went off one night.