Oklahoma City hold the dubious distinction of being the unofficial Tornado Capital of the United States . The U.S. metropolis has endure more tornados than any other—149 formally recorded since 1890 , as far back asNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration phonograph recording go .
The Oklahoma City metro field has been scourge by no less than six tornados in the past month ( five record this retiring week alone in and around El Reno , OK ) , which altogether have get almost three twelve death and major property impairment . Moore , Oklahoma — a suburb just 10 miles in the south of Oklahoma City — got slammed by no less than five major tornados since 1998 , two of them categorized as mighty EF5s : the devastating crack that come upon last month , and one in May of 1999 . With winds clocked at 318 miles per hour , the latter is count to be the inviolable tornado ever recorded worldwide .
Why does the Big Friendly steal the thunder?
The resolution is complicated , because there is still a bunch we do n’t know about the privileged working of crack cocaine . Where they touch down is not an accurate science , and much of the enquiry meteorological scientist have conducted has shown that twister do n’t seem to be very particular about where they show up and when . Pure coincidence may be all we can find fault .
What we do recognize is that the unequaled geography of the continental United States makes it more susceptible to twister than the rest of the worldly concern , particularly in the central field region the media refers to as “ Tornado Alley”—which plays doormat to roughly a quarter of thestrongest tornados recorded . Tornados are the spawn of the lurid meteorological embrace of nerveless , dry Rocky Mountain melodic phrase moving southeast and warm , humid Gulf atmosphere move north-west that meet over the country ’s midsection , most notably over that belt of the plains that run from Iowa south to northern Texas .
The rotate mix of melody flow organise jumbo supercell electric storm that tend to breed tornados , and Oklahoma City appears to besmack splatter in the midriff of it . The local terrain surely help — there are n’t many large body of urine nor are there mountainous regions in the area that can perplex tornado formation . magnanimous river , outstanding lake or propinquity to the ocean can potentially cool tender air , which may ease the severity of thunderstorms that form downwind of these trunk of water . Mountains too can have a alike deterring effect . But these two landscape characteristics do not absolutely protect a realm from tornado , as many myth have perpetuated . Tornados recorded in places like Maine , Washington state and the New York City region are stark grounds of that .
The NOAA estimate that there are 1300 tornados in the United States on fair each yr , more than anywhere else in the world . Around 55 of themroar through the state of Oklahoma .
Other Tornado Hotbeds
Tornados have been report all over the humans , and some of the world ’s most crack cocaine - prone areas are in region with standardized combination of geographic , topographic and meterological conditions to those of Tornado Alley .
Dixie AlleyThe low Mississippi vale from Texas east through Louisiana , Alabama , Mississippi , Georgia , and South Carolina , and as far north as Missouri , Tennessee , and Kentucky , has lately been see a lot of tornado activity . tornado in Dixie Alley tend to come about in the fall when the reverse lightning watercourse from the Gulf labor warm , moist air is more muscular , and often come at Nox and/or wrapped in dim rainwater , make them more unmanageable to find and thus potentially more deadly than Tornado Alley storms . Notable Dixie Alley cruller include the 2011 storms that hit Tuscaloosa , Alabama ( EF4 ) and Joplin , Missouri ( EF5)—considered the deadliest tornado the United States has ever endured .
FloridaAccording toNOAA datum , between 1991 and 2012 , Florida averaged 66 tornados p.a. , behind just Texas ( 155 ) and Kansas ( 96 ) . The Sunshine State , however , catch more press for its susceptibility to destructive tropic storms and hurricanes , as well as frequent thunderstorms . All of these can and often do spawn tornados when they move over the peninsula . They do n’t get much bill because they are typically weak funnel .
Serranias del BurroThe Coahuila province of Mexico is menage to the Serranias del Burro , the mountainous part that make up the northern lobe of the Sierra Madre Oriental mickle reach . It is prone to supercell thunderstorms that breed tornados similar to those keep in Tornado Alley . Typically though , these storms cover the border ( over the Rio Grande ) into the U.S. andproduce tornados there .
Canadian Tornado AlleyTornados occur most frequently in the comic strip of southern Canadian provinces that surround the United States . Provinces east of the Canadian Rocky Mountains like Alberta , Manitoba , and Saskatchewan , which can still get a breath of that warm Gulf line , are susceptible . Ontario draw another kind of lacing , particularly in the south in the summer , due to the cool breezes that bumble off the Great Lakes and interact with warm summertime atmosphere .
BangladeshNestled at the head of the Bay of Bengal , this ocean - level southeast Asian country is prone to tornados and cyclones much like Dixie Alley and Florida . A crack cocaine that hit the cities of Daulatpur and Saturia in 1989 is wide reckon to be the mortal tornado in story , having killed as many as 1300 people . Bangladesh has the inauspicious note of being both one of the most densely live rural area in the worldly concern , and one of the most tornado - prone — so when tornados strike , they can be far more deadly than in other area .
Elsewhere in the world , Argentina , South Africa , and Russia are also noteworthy billet for tornado outbreaks , but want of organized track record - keeping ready it unvoiced to define the extent of their absolute frequency .
