One County in Illinois is Extremely Vulnerable to Winter Weather

A ranking of the counties across the country that are most vulnerable to winter weather has been released and a county in Illinois ranks 2nd on the list. Which county in the Land of Lincoln is the most vulnerable to extreme winter weather? Here are the details...

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According to a ranking from HVAC Gnome, Cook County, Illinois, is the second most vulnerable county for extreme winter weather in the US this year behind only Johnson County in Kansas. Cook County (comprised mainly of Chicago) ranked just ahead of St. Louis County, Missouri, and Tulsa County, Oklahoma. What makes Cook County so vulnerable to extreme winter weather? On the site, they say...

"We compared over 440 U.S. counties with Relatively High and Very High risk of extreme winter weather according to FEMA. We also considered the average historical winter temperature and expected annual financial loss from severe winter weather, among 7 total metrics...Midwestern counties such as Johnson County, Kansas (No. 1), Cook County, Illinois (No. 2), and St. Louis County, Missouri (No. 3), finish at the top with high vulnerability to severe winter weather, ice storms, and cold waves... Cook County faces an estimated annual loss of over $68 million due to cold waves."

The other counties from Illinois that make the list are Winnebago (44th), St. Clair (57th), Peoria (65th), Sangamon (110th), Rock Island (226th), Lake County (229th), DuPage (258th), and Massac (425th), to see the complete list for yourself, click here!

Did they get it right?

What stands out to me is that Cook County is ranked 2nd on this list, and yet Lake County, which is DIRECTLY north of Cook County, is ranked allllllll the way down at 229th...Seems like there is some math wrong somewhere in the rankings, if that is the case, unless the financial impacts of severe weather in Cook County are just THAT much more damaging than they are in Lake County.