Background: Approximately twenty-five years ago, RIDOT stopped using granite curbing as a. standard, with the exception of bridge projects. The primary motivation was cost, as precast. concrete, the replacement, was cheaper to purchase and install.
Longest damage path and duration: The Tri-State Tornado. The longest recorded tornado journey in U.S. history was the Tri-State Tornado of 1925, which traveled almost 220 miles across southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois, and southwestern Indiana during its 3.5-hour life. The average tornado travels about 5 miles.
The hottest temperature ever recorded in Illinois is 117 degrees in East St. Louis in July 1954 during a heat wave in the middle of an already-hot summer. Joe McFarland at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources recounted the day: