Why The United States Gets So Many Powerful Tornadoes
2023 ж. 26 Ақп.
184 022 Рет қаралды
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Tornadoes are one of Earth's most incredible natural phenomena. But while every continent gets tornadoes to some degree, the United States in particular gets far more, at a higher frequency, to a greater degree of strength than almost anywhere else in the world. In today's episode we'll explore where tornadoes are most often seen in the world, why the United States gets so many, and where specifically you're most likely to see a tornado.
Some photos and videos come from Pexels, Pixabay. Attribution below:
Anish Ps
Nathan Stein
Tom Fisk
The Fujita Scale was replaced with the Enhanced Fujita Scale in 2007. Tornado Alley does get a lot of tornadoes but Dixie Alley gets a lot too
and unlike the traditional tornado alley every time of year is "tornado season" in the south.
Dixie alley has had a bit more recently I believe. Still overall #1 if tornado alley
Also it doesn’t end at freakin 6
@bmedic2082 not true grew up in Oklahoma and any time we got tstorms we're on alert but yes April and may are usually crazy
Tornado alley, Dixie alley and the area that connects the two (basically Arkansas, Missouri and lower Ohio and Mississippi River valleys have in recent years congealed into more of a tornado blob.
Fun fact, after the scale was created, the first F5 tornado was recorded in Cass County, North Dakota. Where Fargo is.
Fun fact, the only F5 tornado in Canada, happened in Elie Manitoba, 2007 which is only a couple hours drive North of Fargo.
How is that fact fun?
@@larryroyovitz7829 Fun fact about that. The destruction of one house in specifically was the only reason it was considered an EF5 which is why there is still a lot of debate about that tornado and also how the ratings on tornadoes are done. Unlike most think the scale does look at wind speed, but it is not the actual deciding factor. The actual determination is done by the type of damage caused by the tornado itself. for example, the El Reno tornado while having wind speeds of 300+ MPH was still only determined by the NWS as a EF4 because of the total damage it caused and that is all due to the fact that it rolled mostly through a flat low populated area.
To: Kobi Allen---> That fact is NOT "fun", unless you like to watch disaster movies. 🤕🙁
@@gusloader123 You seem offended. It’s just a fact, calm down. The term “Fun Fact” doesn’t mean fun, it means fact.
You used the Fujita scale in your video but it hasn’t been used since 2007. They now use the Enhanced Fujita scale where the wind speeds are significantly different than the Fujita scale. For example anything over 200 mph is considered an EF5 tornado.
The ef scale doesn’t use wind speed as the main factor. Ef uses damage as it’s main factor. Which is why there can’t be anything higher than a ef5. An ef5 means total destruction
@@calebsanders4353 the regular fujita scale also only uses damage as an indicator. Hardly any tornadoes have had their winds directly measured. The enhanced scale added more indicators and resulted from a realization that the regular fujita scale vastly overestimated wind speeds
The F scale is use more today than the EF scale. The F scale is the global standard while the EF scale is a modified version of the F scale to adjust for to update for American building practices. Only the US and Canada has adopted the EF scale. Europe uses their slightly modified version called the IF scale where they kept the wind speeds the same and the Uk truly use their own unique one called the T scale.
EF scale rated El Reno as an EF3... Sounds more like an insurance scheme more than anything. What useless scale rates one of the strongest tornadoes in history as an EF3!?!?😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
You forgot to mention the actual number one reason Alabama and MS tornadoes are so destructive, most of our tornadoes are rain wrapped, and we have to use the radar as a guide. When you see pictures of photogenic tornadoes, it's not from the lower southeast. Look it up. Ask any chaser. We are known for rainwrapped tornadoes and huge trees and hills. They, too, hide tornadoes. Love your videos!
Most tornadoes are. The south doesn't have the open skies like the Great plains where you can see for miles. No point in chasing the south with all the tree cover.
This is so true! When sirens go off we wait for the heavy downpour to calm down to get scared. Usually right before the raindrops hit and sirens are going is the scariest! The small raindrops are still scary. Once heavy downpour begins we calm down cause then we know tornado isn’t coming. But the scariest is the right before raindrops hit and right when the tiny raindrops start falling. All tornadoes we have had in MS are all followed by heavy downpour since I’ve lived in my city
@@whatsthis9701 Exactly!!
Very true!
The Fujita Scale is no longer in use and F6 has only ever been used twice in history, both were downgraded to F5. The EF scale has been used since 2007 by the National Weather Service. Not to mention, the traditional tornado alley you outline in the video no longer has the most tornadoes in the US. Tornadoes more commonly occur in the Southeast US in 'Dixie Alley' now. Especially the Deep South such as Mississippi and Alabama.
You are correct about the Enhanced Fujita scale, but you are in error about where the most strong tornadoes occur. The are always worse in 'Bama and Mississippi for the reasons he mentioned, and for many more. It has been my experience that preparedness is not the same in those states as it is in the Plaines states, and further, building codes are a bit less strict. Here, if an EF-2 hits, people will loose a few shingles from the roof, and may have to chase down their trash cans several miles away, but we won't have the massive property damage and the loss of life that they have in the Deep South. Also, most everyone here has some manner of underground shelter to go to, whether it's a basement, a storm cellar, or something similar. I have noticed that in large areas of the south bedrock is quite near the surface, and it makes it almost impossible to have a deep basement in many houses. There is nothing on Earth that is going to save your home from an EF-4 or 5, but if you have a basement of storm cellar to go to, you might lose the house, but you will usually survive the experience. Our lead times are usually pretty long too, and with a high density of tornado sirens and robust weather alert system which is tested once a week no matter what time of year it is, we usually have plenty of time to get to safety. The general attitude here is that it's better to run to the storm cellar and have it be a false alarm than not to run and get munched by a big tornado. By way of example, a town only a few miles south of the city I live in got wiped off the map by a large EF-5 a few years ago, but because of the lead time and everyone knowing what they needed to do, there were no deaths, and no injuries which required hospitalization. there were a few laceration injuries and a few broken bones, and beyond that, everyone was fine. If a long track EF-5 a mile and a half wide would have it anywhere in the deep south, the death toll would have been staggering. That doesn't happen that way by luck. It happens because the outlay isn't made to ensure that people will survive. Some things you can't help, such as the level of bedrock and the water table. But there's still a problem in not requiring that homes without a basement have a tornado proof safe room subject to inspection at construction time. There was one house in the town I mentioned above which didn't have a basement, but it did have a safe room. The pad the house had been on was swept clean by the tornado and a lot of scouring was visible on the concrete, but the safe room was still standing, and though the outside of it was scoured, the inside remained pristine, and the family who lived there came out without a scratch. It's a difference in attitude and preparedness, not in sheer numbers of tornados.
@@Chompchompyerded I only read a portion of 'allat'. But I live in Dixie Alley, a majority of homeowners do NOT have cellars, basements or storm shelters below ground because of the soil quality. It's extremely expensive to get one built let alone upkeep it. This is why my neighbors' basement is completely wrecked now. Not to mention public shelters in the Deep South are far and few between, Craig Ceecee has a map of his own that he's been working on while getting his PhD listing all known tornado shelters in the United States. And yes, Dixie Alley and other states in the east are getting more tornadoes than the Plains. This is an observed shift in tornado occurances that is recognized, likely in part due to global warming.
I also wanna mention even in Oklahoma, many don't have basements or shelters for the same reason as the South. Poor soil quality.
Incorrect. Traditional tornado alley has more number of tornadoes. Dixie alley has more number of stronger tornadoes in recent years.
@@daltonschmitt7638 Doubt. 1. In the past several years, far more have occurred in the South than Plains. 2. What you're saying would mean better ingredient in the South than Plains so why would Plains have the most.
I live in south eastern Tennessee and can confirm that almost every Tornado that hits in the southeast hits at night in the wee hours of the morning. During the spring time, you need to have some kind of alert system that will wake you if a tornado touches down in your area. Honestly, I can't remember the last time a Tornado didnt hit in the middle of the night here (11-4 am).
Go Vols 🍊
I live in Tulsa. We have at least one tornado in our area per year. Part of the reason why Oklahoma has a low death rate when concerning tornadoes: Oklahoma has some of the most advanced weather equipment, knowledgeable meteorologists, and other weather savy personnel in the nation. This provides adequate warning prior to most tornadic activity. Also most communities are very weather aware and lots have storm shelters or areas of their home designated as safe spaces that we can go to during strong storms. Every Wednesday at noon during a clear afternoon the tornado sirens run a minute long audible test. It's fun to see the serious look on visitors faces when the sirens run their tests. 😜
It's noon on Saturdays here in the okc metro lol
Plus they have a ton of experience, dealing with the Moore-Bridge Creek F5 of 1999, the Moore Oklahoma EF5 of 2013, and the El Reno Oklahoma EF3 of 2013
Well I also think that extreme weather outside of April/May is also uncommon, so survive two months of tornadoes and then there’s not much to worry about
I live in a small town in northern Indiana and we run our tornado siren everyday at noon. I used to drive for Arrow Trucking and I have seen the pictures of the bad tornado that hit the truck stop in Tulsa.
I thought it has a low death rate because of the weather services and good safety advices and everyone have a cellar or basement to take refuge during the tornado.
The Fujita scale has been replaced by the Enhanced Fujita Scale which stops at EF5, there is no EF6 on the "new" scale which has been in place since 2007.
The scale you used was the old Fujita scale. The new scale which came into effect in 2007 is the Enhanced Fujita scale of EF0 to EF5.
@@Ben-outdoors no.
@@Ben-outdoors entirely different.
@@Ben-outdoors yes, got a problem with it?
Canada adopted it in 2007. While the rest of the world basically still uses the F scale still.
I know someone that works at a ball bearing manufacturer in Iowa. He says the thought of a tornado hitting the plant keeps him up at night.
I bet! A ball bearing plant could turn into a giant blunderbuss if it took a hit. That's spooky!
Just as a note; When the original Fujita scale came out, it was ranked between F0 - F5. F6 was not a such thing when it was originally released. Since then, in February of 2007, the US switched over to the new Enhanced Fujita Scale, and Canada soon followed in 2013. EF tornado ranked from EF0 - EF5.
the original actually went up to 12, but the hgihest used was a six twice and they were both degraded
F6 is a thing and I believe in it
I've lived in tornado alley most of my life. I've had three go over my head. I've learned to respect them!
Missouri is also part of tornado alley. Ohio gets pretty frequent tornados too. In 1974 and 2002, Ohio was the target of a few tornado outbreaks.
Illinois as well.
I've lived roughly 50 miles north of Birmingham, Alabama my entire life. I'd never leave, especially since my folks are getting on up into their senior years. But it does get exciting in the Spring and Fall. 🌪🌪🌪 Keeps your prayer life up.😆
Stay safe y'all 👍
An F5 hit Joplin,Mo (just to the east of Kansas) It was traumatic. It destroyed the hospital where people were going to after being injured they had to even relocate the patients😳
I remember that devil. It was at a bad time of day too. Though we're about three hours away, we sent a lot of responders and people down there to help in the recovery. A large percentage of our electrical workers went down there, and a few weeks later when we had a big storm (thankfully not a tornado), it took a long time to get the lights back on because so many of our people were down in Joplin helping put up new transformers and string new electrical lines. We didn't complain though. Those folks were in much more desperate straights than we were.
I was living about 1/2 mile from St. John’s and it was an absolute trip when we came out of the basement and could visibly see the hospital, which was never in view because the foliage would never allow it. I remember they moved the patients into a bunch of FEMA tents on Jackson St. I believe. Used to walk past them when linking with a friend.
Fun fact: Dixie alley is just as active nowadays
One reason Alabama and Mississippi have more casualties during tornados is the type of housing. They have a lot of trailers , and low income housing that’s not built to withstand the high winds and damaging debris.
Please consider doing a video on what if Iceland and Greenland became part of the USA the way Seward ( the guy responsible for our purchase of Alaska) wanted to. I also read he was trying to buy parts of Canada
@es e not true. Both Islands are very strategically located, and full of natural resources. Iceland has geothermal heating and Greenland has lots of natural resource potential. Either way, they're in the perfect position to protect the United States from Atlantic attacks
@@ryanprosper88 kind of interesting if the USA colonized and owned European territory
@es e What? you need to research what AK contribtes to USA, of course she does, especially all the oil of the Alaska Pipeline. Plus we have major bases to protect us from places like Germany, China, Russia pretty much all the communist countries that surrounds up in that north area. We have bases in Canada, Mexico other places for the safety of other nations that don't like the western world. Protection alone is worth it.
In Dixie Alley, the tornadoes are also often rainwrapped, so they are less visible. At least that's what I heard in some documentary? We have a much smaller and much less dangerous tornado region here in northwest Germany. In general, western Germany is a little bit prone to tornado formation because of the moist Atlantic air, drier air from the mountains, and moist Mediterranean air that occasionally makes it over the Alps. In 1910 we had an F4 tornado and in 2021 an F2 tornado devastated two villages not far from me. I have been very fascinated with tornadoes since I was a kid and saw a small tornado during a thunderstorm that carried our lawn chairs over a high fence and blew away the neighbors gazebo and ripped a few roof tiles from two houses across the street. 😊
You are correct about the rainwrapped tornadoes. Here in Alabama, like Geoff said, most of these beasts occur at night, and most of the time it's in a thunderstorm. And there are so many forests that you mostly won't see it until it's very, very close.
Most tornadoes are, you can't see them as clear in the south with all the trees, in the plains you have wide open sky's where you can see for miles.
Canada more specifically Southern Ontario is apart of tornado alley. Tornado activity has risen a lot over the past 10 years
Ontario for sure. Remember Barrie decades ago and Edmonton Alberta-horrific mess and deaths.
I've always wondered why we have so many, used to live in broken arrow oklahoma in tornado alley. Great vid
Excellent content, production, quality and presentation GBG! I just saw this in my daily feed, was impressed so I subscribed. Cheers.
Another awesome video! Keep doing what you’re doing!
For dixie alley: nocturnal tornadoes usually happen there as storm systems move in from the plains. A ton of energy is spread out across this entire section of the US. They tend to fire up west of Dallas, Oklahoma City, etc and move east around 2-3pm. By the time they make it to the deep south, it's extremely late at night. I've watched this pattern many times, usually gets called a "multi-day severe weather outbreak". Now this isn't EVERY occurrence, but usually they happen as the ingredients meet in the west and get dragged east/southeast.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and hope you know how much I enjoy and appreciate you 👍🌎
Would be cool if you mapped out the recorded F5 tornadoes
Just google it. At the very least, maps with the centroids of all F5s and EF5s are readily available.
Really good video, well explained. Thank you! You've got my sub
The Fajita scale was discontinued in 2007. It is now the Enhanced Fajita scale with different figures. Also, Dixie Alley gets more tornados on average, though they are not usually as strong. That said, the traditional tornado alley gets all the fame, a tremendous amount more deaths and damage occur in Dixie Alley, and I think that deserves more attention!
No, actually that is not true. Well not completely. IN the US it was switch in 2007. Canada changed in 2013. However, Most of the World still uses the F scale. Europe uses an modified version for their buildings but kept the wind speed the same. It's called the IF scale. The Uk uses the T scale. Their own which is not base on the F scale. However countries anywhere else such as China, Japan, India, Russia, anywhere in South America and so on still uses the F scale and not the EF scale.
@TrueMathSquare Well, this video is based on the United States, so actually it is true. Dixie Alley has more damage and deaths due to the population density and heavy forestation.
Great short video! Would have loved to see a brief comparison of strength of tornados in the US compared to those around the world. Another topic suggestion; Flash Flood Alley, where cool arctic air and hot humid air from the gulf join forces with the orographic effect to create massive flash flooding events.
As a note that most people failed to mention in the comments. We still have plenty of cushion. The enhanced scale upgraded the lower numbers, past an EF5, we'll switch back to f6-f12. We currently still use it. The odds of it ever getting that high isn't impossible or Dr F wouldn't of added it as a possibility.
It is a well known fact that the only reason we get tornadoes in the South is that they are attracted to sheet aluminum, specifically that found in trailer parks.
Lol
Just wanted to explain a few things since I have seen many comments about it. Firstly, the Fujita Scale did not actually include F-6. It was theorized as possible but never actually used for a tornado. Secondly, the scale was modified in 2007 and is now the Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale. Some notable differences, this scale drastically decreased the estimated speeds of powerful violent tornadoes, and also put a greater emphasis on damage reports for rating. For example, the El Reno 2013 tornado is only rated a EF 3 despite having wind speeds of 295 mph (well over the EF 5 estimate). While Dixie Alley (the southeast US states such as Mississippi and Alabama, do get there own share of nasty tornadoes (usually rain wrapped as well), the reason Tornado Alley is so named is not just the number of tornadoes but also the large violent nature of many. Kansas and Oklahoma have some of the most large violent tornadoes on record, specifically the Oklahoma City area has been frequently hit by powerful storm systems. Hopefully this helps.
I grew up in rural Kansas, absolutely loved it when tornados would roll through the area. Those storms are a sight to behold! (from afar)
Hey, Geoff, my name is Hayden, and I am a storm chaser and a meteorology major in college. You got a couple facts wrong and made some mischaracterizations in this video. 1) There is no such thing as an F6. The scale only goes to F5. Ted Fujita originally contemplated rating a tornado in Xenia, Ohio, an F6 (and a tornado in Lubbock, Texas as well), but decided against in due to the fact that no conventional structure can survive F5 winds. 2) The Fujita scale is no longer in use in the United States. We use the Enhanced Fujita scale, which scales tornadoes based off of 31 unique damage indicators. Its categorization goes like this: EF0…65-85 mph EF1…86-110 mph EF2…111-135 mph EF3…136-165 mph EF4…166-200 mph EF5…201 mph and greater 3) it’s not necessarily the difference in temperatures and air masses that makes tornado alley prolific in producing tornadoes, it delves deeper into thermodynamics and kinematics than that. Tornadoes need a balance of 2 atmospheric parameters in order to occur, and they can happen in any temperature. The first of these parameters is called vorticity. In layman’s terms, vorticity is the spin of the atmosphere. A specific kind of vorticity is called wind shear, which happens when winds are traveling in different directions and/or at different speeds in the same area. Wind shear helps with 2 things: thunderstorm organization by tilting the downdrafts away from the updraft, and making the updraft rotate. Wind shear is measured in Storm Relative Helicity, and the SI unit for that is m2/s2. Any storm that can take advantage of wind shear and organizes so it’s updraft rotates is called a supercell, and supercells are the storms that *typically* produce tornadoes. The other environmental parameter is called CAPE, or Convective Available Potential Energy. This is a thermodynamic parameter that is a combination of the temperature and dew point of the air, and the vertical temperature lapse rates. It is measure in Joules/ Kg and it will tell you whether or not an air parcel will rise, and if so, how powerful will the rising be based off adiabatic cooling. Long story short, Tornado Alley is an area that has both of these parameters line up in high values in conjunction with each other, which results in tornadoes. 4) you severely underestimate Dixie Alley, dude. Dixie has more violent and deadly tornadoes than the traditional tornado alley not only for the reasons that you mentioned in the videos, but also for the fact that shear values are so strong here that our tornadoes usually are moving faster than 50 mph. The high shear values also contribute to how strong they are. Also, favorable dew points are more widespread in Dixie than they are in Tornado alley, and this allows tornadoes to usually be longer track in nature because the supercells have more moisture to pull from. There are also a number of QLCS tornadoes in Dixie, which can happen even with subpar CAPE values. A QLCS, or Quasi-Linear Convective System, is an intense squall line that can give rise to all modes of severe weather. QLCS tornadoes are typically short lived and occupy the EF0-EF2 end of the spectrum, but they are *VERY* unpredictable and can move up to 80 mph. That’s about it I guess.
The thing you miss is most of the world still uses the F scale. I would argue against using the EF scale for an international viewership because it's not the language that most people speak. It's like stating something about America most use our customary units for someone in Russia. They would have no clue. Everyone minus the Uk which uses their own unique T scale. Europe uses the IF scale but they didn't change the wind speeds and so it's still wind for wind comparable. There was actually an F6 rating but there was no damage indicators for it. F5 tops out at 318 Mp/H. So even we got an F6 tornado it would still be given the F5 rating so the rating still does exist but it's not assignable. So ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
Sure we can say we haven't recorded an F6, but we haven't kept track of most of this plant. Who knows how are tornadoes over the ocean. There is very little documentation and there is very little we can even implied about their intensity.
My best guess is that tornadoes tops out at around 320 mp/h. Any stronger they would just break about into more vortexes and get wider. But again it's my guess if we had more ideal conditions such as warmer waters for hurricanes such as an hypothetical hypercane and so on... Though, I think the idea of one is absurd because it would probably just split into two etc... We do not know the real maximum size for a planet under the very best conditions. I just wounder on how intense tornadic waterspouts can get as we basically do not know. Best guess would be around EF2 or 3 but storms do get way more intense over the ocean and so perhaps I am wrong and they can get up-to like F7 winds somehow that is not realistic to our minds.
@@TrueMathSquare a big mechanism for supercell formation is the dry line boundary, and those do not occur over the ocean. Plus, the ocean a lot of times does not have the wind shear needed to produce tornadoes, and the most tornadic activity it gets is through weaker fair-weather waterspouts, which are almost always EF0 strength. We have every reason to believe that the ocean is not a favorable environment for supercells and tornadoes most of the time.
Good information and instructional video. I will forward it to my Grandkids to watch / learn. I used to get an "A" each year in Geography and History classes from Elementary to High School. I just "Subscribed."
In Australia mostly in the tropics [QLD, NT and WA]
Great video! Thanks.
Awesome video!
I read an article somewhere that stated tornado alley is shifting east, all the way to St Louis.
Love these videos.
Amazing video!
Awesome presentation
Great video!
Good info, even though a bit outdated. Thanks for your videos!!!
I'm a decorated Viet Nam veteran and my medal rack says I'm not a coward but I'm sorry tornadoes don't fascinate me, they scare the crap out oif me.
Thx for sharing
Cold air coming down from the north, then you add the warm air coming up from the Gulf and tornado alley just happens to be where the fronts come together
Maybe the title of this video should be "Tornado Facts 101!"
It’s the loudest noise you’ll ever hear. Almost like 20 trains running side by side. May wipe your house away, but leave your bike in the front yard on its kickstand.
Tornados have been classified as EF since 2007. There is no such thing as an F or EF 6.
That's not true universality. Only in the US. In Canada, since 2013. Most of the world still uses the F scale. Europe has an slightly modified version called the IF scale. The only country to truly use their own would be the UK with their T scale.
You must be great at parties.
You're forgetting about Colorado. We have the Rockies, which bring in the cold air that causes tornadoes. We have several tornadoes every year, especially out east. Colorado is one of the top five states for tornadoes. We've even had some up on the mountains. As for Texas, my home state, northern Texas is known for tornadoes. Down south tornadoes are mainly spawned from hurricanes. The Gulf of Mexico states get tornadoes mainly from hurricanes as well. So, it's not the same for tornadoes developing in tornado alley vs tornadoes spawned by hurricanes. Nice video anyway.
If they wouldn't call it Tornado Alley, maybe they would go elsewhere.
Bro I just wanna watch a playback of the meeting where the meteorologists deciding tornado classifications sat around with a thesaurus debating "which one is worse, 'incredible' damage, or 'inconceivable' damage" "severe, or devastating" etc etc, as well as the multiple day long heated argument that I am almost certain ensued
Also in the south there are little to no tornado shelters due to high water table; so also no basements.
My mom grew up in this region during the Great Depression, in fact she refused to even visit (we have tribal connections there) since they traumatized her so much as a child.
Good job Geoff. One thing I made as to why tornadoes would cause more destruction in Alabama or Mississippi than in the Great Plains is that trailer parks are more common in those Deep South states which are much less sturdy. That’s not an insult or dig on those states. That is true. Decades ago tornadoes were less common in those states and they didn’t prepare as much.
Nailed it! Been here my whole life in Louisiana and I don't remember tornadoes here when growing up, decades ago. We sure have them now. Ugh
I just feel like the USA just has unfortunate weather in general. I'm from there but I haven't lived there in 7 years and the weather where I live now is so basic essentially. They barely even get thunderstorms here. It's a relatively rare occurrence. The only dangerous weather is their rainy season. And the reason is because sometimes it rains so much it floods the streets and causes landslides. But other than that, it's so chill here.
good data here, thanks
6:18 so if you are to experience ANY natural disaster it’s best to experience them where they are common and expected- because they construct their buildings accordingly. For instance in Minnesota’s Twin Cities they may consider tornadoes sure, they happen there, BUT they don’t consider earthquakes in there building codes because they have never had and expect to never have any significant earthquakes, whereas a metro area like LA, which regularly experiences earthquakes, will build for it and therefore it’s safer
One thing I've noticed in Alabama and Mississippi is that they don't have the level of Tornado preparedness that we have here on the great plains. Even though the city where I live has never been hit by a tornado, we have tornado sirens in much greater density than they do outside of tornado alley, and the test them once a week to make sure they are all working. Every place here, including the smallest towns, have tornado spotting teams which go out whenever there is a thunder storm to try to spot any tornadoes which radar has missed, or to verify ones which are indicated on radar. I don't know why it is, but it seems that Alabama and Mississippi don't have the density of sirens, the testing of the ones which they do have, nor the trained spotters in every community looking for rotation in the clouds and other signs that a tornado may be about to form. We get a lot of false alerts where the rotation doesn't develop into a full blown tornado, but everyone prefers that we have false alerts rather than tornadoes showing up by surprise and killing a lot of people. Interestingly, I've lived through a lot of alerts in my 75 years, but have as of yet to see an actual tornado. One side of me wants to see o n e, but another side of me would rather not. They are fascinating, but if one is within eyesight of me, that means it will be doing a lot of damage to people and property in my community. I don't want that to every happen, and so far it never has (knock on wood).
You sound like a fellow Wichita resident 😂. I always brag about how we don’t get tornadoes here, Andover sure took a beating last year though
I hope they do going forward after last night 😔
Because Mississippi isn't prepared for anything. Poor infrastructure and terrible quality of life in many metrics
Part of the issue of why there aren't as many people spotting in the southeast probably is that tornadoes are harder to spot due to it being more wooded and the terrain being hillier.
@@scarpfish That's very true, but by the same token, taking up positions on the highest hills could give you an advantage. The biggest disadvantage I can thing of is that there are a lot more trees in that part of the nation than there are in the Plains States and Provinces running from Texas up to central Saskatchewan. On that part of the continent you can see unobstructed for many miles in any direction. Even on the top of hills in the southeast, that's hard to do. The distance you can see is only as far as the tops of the surrounding trees will let you see. That doesn't mean that we should chop down all the trees in the southeast, but it wouldn't hurt to have means to see beyond the tree tops. Quad-copter drones put up by volunteers might be a good way to overcome the sighting problem. Tornadoes follow in a generally similar direction to the path of the storms they form from, so you wouldn't have to be looking in all directions. You'd only need to be looking in the general direction that the storm is traveling in, much as spotters out on the Great Plains do. Getting that visual bit of advance warning would be a big help, and I believe it would be well worth southern states investing in. Still, even though it produces a lot of false positives, radar is still the best way of locating tornadoes or potential tornadoes. For that, Southern states would be wise to invest providing people with NOAA weather radar radios which sound a warning as soon as there is a doppler indicated forming tornado. Those do sometimes go off when there is no tornado, or when the tornado is too distant to affect you, but is far better to go to shelter than it is to get injured or die in a tornado. Another thing which should be required in all new construction and should be retro-fitted to all existing structures which do not have a basement or root cellar, is a tornado safe room. It doesn't add a lot to building costs, and it's something that everyone in tornado prone parts of the country should have. If a house can't be retro-fitted, then one can be built outside within a few short steps of the back door. These should be particularly required in mobile home parks, as a mobile or prefabricated home is the worst place to be during a tornado. We can do better. There is no doubt. I'd even be in favour of Federal funding for it, and I would not object to my taxes being raised a bit to cover it. There are things which you just have to do for the safety of the people of the nation when there is a known hazard to the safety of our people. Even though I don't live in a place where that's a problem, I would think that this is something which certainly counts.
I'm so glad that I live in Minnesota tornados are far fewer. Our peak months are June and then July because of being so far north.
For anyone that wounders, the F scale was originally made to not just be use with tornadoes and it was during a time when they wasn't even sure of the wind speeds of them some said that they would be 200 mp/h while some 500 mp/h or supersonic. Before the 1950s in the US it was actually illegal to forecast or basically mention tornadoes out of the rationale of it would do more harm than good due to public panicing. In the author originally paper he has a map with a hurricane and of a section areas of rating like F2.5. While original scale was for wind-speed however it quickly turn into a damage scale instead because there was really no real way to measure it other than though damage. The EF scale is a pure damage scale It's basically made de facto into de jure. As the descriptions of the damage would be cause at each tier was wrong for the United States buildings practices... they could either have readjusted the desc of the damage of each tier and than rate them differently. Such as say that F5 damage could now be consider as F3 damage or keep it so that a tornado that gets a F5 rating even though it was an F3. They pick the latter due to backwards compatibility but it breaks the mathematically formulas however no one ever use it for that anyways and so I guess it doesn't really matter. This problem was known when it was first introduce but the author and society at large said to not change it every year because it would basically break comparability between them. They couldn't imagine it could as far off as 100 mp/h. The problem now as that with radar we can refer that a tornado could be very strong but receive the lowest tier of it went over only a field. The author himself tried to update the damage desc and have a way to convert the old 'f scale' into the new 'F scale' but it never catched on. So the originally scale was negative 2 to 12. -2 was 0Mp/h F1 was the lowest hurricane winds and F12 was march 1/supersonic. The British has their own scale which is the T Scale where T stands for Torro which is the organization which created it. Its goes form T0 to T11 whereas T11 is 300+ mph. They claimed It's the only scale that is purely base on wind speeds alone but again they still have that problem of how do you infer the wind speeds. Europe uses their own updated Fujita/F scale called the IF scale aka the International Fujita scale and it's adjusted like what we did for ours for their building practices. The major difference beside that are the the lowest 3 tires are than broken down into being a half. So like F0.5. It uses the author new F scale as a base. The rationale is to be as precises as possible but also their tornadoes tend to also be weaker and so it's adjusted for that. America and Canada uses as we know the EF scale aka the Enhanced Fujita scale. The major difference of it between all of the others is the large gap between the ratings and there is no subdivisions. So EF5 is anything over 200 Mp/h but tornadoes can get as powerful as 318 Mp/h Or around 320 Mp/H in theory. So when they say that the damage looks like high EF3 damage the rating is EF3. So Its not as precise as it could be I guess in theory if it matters. The rest of the world still uses the original F scale to my knowledge. I personally do not like them all because it doesn't rank the overall damage/impact/give an good scope on the average power compare to the other recorded ones. For example an small tornado which has only just pick up a house whole would just be EF5 while an very large tornado that did moderate-serve damage over to an very large area might be rank as an EF3. Overall the second would be more powerful. But the scale would wrongly believe you to take it as the first is worse. Windspeed isn't everything neither is the amount of damage to refer the wind speeds. As you have a pressure drop, many section vortexes, how long it stays over an area, the size of the damage, the discontinuity of the wind which acts like a shredder, and the amount of debris which leads to secondary damage and so on. For example, the El Reno tornado was the widest ever to be recorded and got EF3 rating due to implied damage yet radar would implied the small core got to EF5 winds however that small cone in the center was the area to worry about and most of it was EF0 and someone would would have just been fine standing in it along if they just dodge the small center vortex.
I lived in southwest Wisconsin, which is also a part of tornado ally. I've seen/been in about 4 tornadoes.
Eastern Washington State gets some funnel clouds to very weak tornadoes every year. Even western Washington has experienced a few small tornadoes in the last few years.
My favorite KZhead notifications are when you upload!
I have witnessed both an EF3 and EF4 back in Ohio and countless smaller tornados.
Countless tornadoes, huh? The Ohio state website lists 1100 or so, recorded since 1950... Happy 74th birthday!!!
Really appreciate that you just stick to the facts in your videos. Your presentation is really formal and doesn't try to be wacky like other KZhead channels. Great work!
Can you do one like this but Dixie alley And also consider using the "EF" scale as the F scale is outdated
The F scale is not outdated. The better scale to use would probably be the T scale use in the UK as that is not tried to an country building practices but most of the world uses the F scale. The only countries to use the EF scale are Canada and the US.
Lately, tornadoes have favored states farther east, Mississippi, Arkansas, even Alabama.
Lately? In the 90's when I lived in Alabama every year there were tornado warnings in my area with some tornadoes touching down very close to where I lived. I remember that one Tornado that messed up Birmingham.
Where im from, most of our tornados come at night. Which to me, is scarier then at day time
On that thumbnail it looks like tornadoes recognize state borders.
Dixie alley is more active with deadly tornadoes than tornado alley these days. If your a tornado enthusiast you'd know this.
A tornado hit my farm last year in July. I live in Nebraska. Destroyed the old barn from 1910.
Thank you for including Puerto Rico.😊👍
Title : Tornadoes My dumbass : Why The US gets so many powerful tomatoes
Tornadoes down near Houston are extremely rare and they typically not intense. The cutoff is way up closer to Dallas.
Living in Illinois, I’ve had some EF3 tornadoes by my house, but I’ve never witnessed one with my eyes
They say tornado alley is moving east in more recent years…those of us in traditional tornado alley are still getting them but not as strong as lately. But there are the occasional WTF days when some happen like what went down on December 15, 2021 this was the FIRST time in my life I had to go to a shelter in DECEMBER.
Tornadoes are simply a heat exchange between warmer equatorial areas and the colder northern latitudes. It's facilitated by huge flat land which reduces turbulence and allows the masses to mix predictably.
I believe tornado alley has more basements the Alabama and Georgia. Most states in tornado alley require basements to be built as the foundation for houses instead of slab foundations that are more common along the gulf
The answer is simple... Geology and Meteorology combined. Geologically, the Rockies have played their part, they act as a blockade and a railing for tornadoes to form. The rockies entrapped the hot air and cold air which combines them to create erratic weather... which leads to... Meteorologically, do with the Rockies, it entrapped the weather and trail the hot and cold weather and with high and low pressures that being walled by the Rockies and moisture caused by the swamps from the southeast and the Gulf from the south and the tropic humidity from mexico. All of those combined with hot and cold air and the Rockies walled the air and moisture, that's when you get Tornado Alley.
Texas native here The far southern part of Texas, and the area around El Paso has virtually no tornadoes. Do they happen? Yes, but they are EXTREMELY RARE! The most common places in Texas that has tornadoes is the North (Dallas / Ft. Worth region), West (Lubbock, Midland/Odessa region), Texas Panhandle (Amarillo) and the Houston metro area. Matter of fact, Houston had an EF3 in a nearby suburb called Deer Park on Jan. 24th 2023
Fellow Texan here! In San Antonio, which is geographically farther south then El Paso, has had tornados here touch down is rare. But has happened!
The US gets so many tornadoes for the same reason SE Asia gets so many monsoons: Location Location Location. A lot of people make a big deal out of the US getting all the tornadoes in the world, but seem to treat it like the rest of the world doesn't get their own unique weather that no one else gets.
MS, LA, AR, AL, TN, FL, and GA think your tornado alley is cute.
The tornado in Little Rock on March 31st was an F4. The outside world has no idea what happened in LR, probably because of the lack of deaths. West Little Rock looks like a war zone. Entire neighborhoods destroyed.
You need to update your information. The Fujita Scale has been used for years now. Also, as outlined by other comments, Dixie Alley has had more Tornadoes over the past several years than anywhere else. As a survivor of the 2013 Moore Oklahoma EF5 Tornado, I have a little experience.
Thanks!
Alabama sure gets a helluva lot of tornadoes, especially up near Huntsville.
My research shows that the 'Tornado Belt' a very loosely defined area, is shifting eastward, including Illinois, Ohio and SW Michigan where I live. I grew up in Flint Michigan, from the mid-60's to the mid-80's, where we spent way too much time, huddled in the basement, listening to the emergency broadcast radio, those moments really sucked, fear, anxiety, etc. I also lived in L.A. from 85 to 2013, was in two decent sized earthquakes, which come without warning and are soon (most of the time) gone. So, give me earthquakes over tornados any day!!...hahaha
So, what you've explained, early on, is that the most livable places on Earth are all prone to cyclones. That is that there's virtually no place that isn't prone to cyclones in which anyone in their right mind would choose to live. Practically, the only places left were the Iberian peninsula, and a little farther north in Scandinavia.
Well timed video 😭 we just got a February tornado here in Columbus OH Only in Ohio
Missouri has had some very deadly tornadoes in the last 10 years.
That is no doubt. In fact, from 2003 through 2012, southwestern Missouri had by far the most significant long track tornadoes in all the US. At least five different corridor outbreaks like 5-4-03, 3-12-06, and 1-8-08; and a few other more isolated yet devastating events (Joplin; Picher OK/Seneca MO).
Some good things and comments! I live in Indiana and the number one worst tornado is the Tri-State tornado, which went through Indiana. The Zenia, Ohio Tornado, went through Indiana first and the Palm Sunday tornado went through Indiana too. I remember the last two and the first was around the turn of the twentieth century.
Tornado Alley. Yes.... they say us Midwesterners when we hear the word "Tornado!", we drop everything, flail our arms and run around like the Home Alone kid. Its actually true....
Here in Oklahoma, Gary England was like our superhero. He would tell you when and where a tornado would be. If he told you to take shelter, you better do it.
Alabama and Mississippi have lots of trailer parks, known tornado magnates...
Great explanation of a whacko phenomenon. Thanks.
That was great
Actually nowadays there are more tornadoes east of the original tornado alley and in the southern part of the United States.
sitting in the middle of kansas wondering if im gonna die tonight in the severe thunderstorm 🐿️