Weird Weather in Midwest USA

A rare outbreak of tornadoes moved across the midwest in January 2008.  These tornadoes destroyed homes and caused trains to blow off their tracks. These tornadoes occured  during a January of record breaking high temperatures. Tempuratures were higher than usual all across the USA.  People in Wisconsin were shocked to have tornadoes hit their area. (Tornadoes are extremely rare in Wisconsin in January. Between 1950 and 2007, only one tornado had been recorded in the month of January, an F3 tornado that hit on January 24, 1967). It would have been a rare event even in summertime, but to see one in January, was absolutely strange. Meteorologists said the unusual weather was the result of warm, moist air moving from the south. It brought temperatures hovering near 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) on the days the tornadoes hit.  There seems to be a growing number of rare tornado incidents in the far Northern states.  It again makes me wonder about the effects of global warming.  This is hard to prove actually.  There have been  tornadoes in November and December that hit Oregon and Washington. These happened way back in 1950. A tornado struck Illinois in January 1950 also. Back in 1999 a record-breaking 141 tornadoes moved across Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee in January .  The previous record for tornadoes during the entire first month of any year was only 52 in 1975.  These strange tornado events are so rare that it is hard to say what is really causing them.