Kansas and Oklahoma are second and third respectively when it comes to the number of tornadoes reported, but those states report more tornadoes per land area than Texas. Tornado Alley is term that it is typically used to describe a wide swath of tornado-prone areas between the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains that frequently experience tornadoes. It is not an official weather term; it was primarily a phrase popularized by the media. A destructive tornado moved through the outskirts of Kansas City on Tuesday, injuring at least a dozen people and killing one. Between 1,300 and 1,450 tornadoes are predicted to occur across the U.S. in total in 2025, according to AccuWeather. Between 75 and 150 tornadoes have been forecast for March, 200 to 300 in April and 250 to 350 in May.
How safe are you?
Tornadoes are a worldwide phenomenon, touching down in every continent save Antarctica. OpinionA storm scientist explains what’s been driving deadly tornado outbreaks and how tornado season has been changing. Tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air that stretch between the ground and the base of storm clouds.
Tornado Alley shifts eastward
- However, researchers don’t know whether the overall downward trend in tornadoes is driven by warming or will continue into the future.
- However, the U.S. didn’t really get one of those calm periods in spring 2025.
- Listen to your local meteorologists so you will know when your region is facing a tornado risk.
- Tornado Alley is a nickname given to a region stretching across several South Central states where destructive tornadoes are most likely to occur, according to AccuWeather.
Exceptionally warm sea water in the Gulf is also expected to significantly influence severe weather in Southeastern states. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), two EF4-strength tornadoes — indicative of “devastating” damage — ripped through Arkansas on Friday. This was the first time in over 25 years that two EF4-strength tornadoes hit the state in a single day.
Their strength is measured using the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which estimates the tornado’s strength based on the damage it causes. The highest ranking on the scale is EF5, indicating “incredible” damage. The shift toward more winter tornadoes has also left people more vulnerable. Since they may not expect tornadoes at that time of year, they are likely to be less prepared. Tornado detection and forecasting is rapidly improving and has saved thousands of lives over the past 50-plus years, but forecasts can save lives only if people are able to receive them.
Scientist Reading the Leaves to Predict Violent Weather
It was upgraded to the Enhanced Fujita scale in 2007 and ranges from EF0 to EF5. An EF0 tornado may damage trees but tornado web server not buildings, with winds ranging up to 85 mph (137 km/h). An EF5 tornado is devastating; winds exceed 200 mph (322 km/h), and buildings can be annihilated. Tornadoes can occur at any time during the year, but they form most frequently in the spring and summer, depending upon your location.
Tornado Alley: Where Twisters Form
This follows a pattern previously predicted by long-range forecasters at AccuWeather, which warned of an eastward-shift in tornado risk this year. Tornadoes form when different temperatures and humidity meet. In the United States, warm, wet winds travel north from the Gulf of Mexico in the spring and summer, where they meet cold, dry, south-moving Canadian fronts. Cooler weather across much of the Great Lakes and Northeast is expected to limit the severity of thunderstorms and tornados in the Northern states through early spring. Listen to your local meteorologists so you will know when your region is facing a tornado risk. And if you hear sirens or are under a tornado warning, immediately go to your safe space.
- However, a relatively small percentage of Florida’s tornadoes are considered high intensity.
- I’m an atmospheric scientist who studies natural hazards.
- Field campaigns studying how tornadoes form may help us better answer this question.
- It may come as a surprise that the U.S. has actually seen a decrease in overall U.S. tornado activity over the past several decades, especially for intense tornadoes categorized as EF2 and above.
- In the United States, warm, wet winds travel north from the Gulf of Mexico in the spring and summer, where they meet cold, dry, south-moving Canadian fronts.
The storm system is expected to move offshore by the end of the day on Monday (March 17), according to CNN. However, extremely critical fire-weather conditions are likely to persist into Tuesday afternoon (March 18), according to the NWS Storm Prediction Center. April and May also produced tornado outbreaks, but the preliminary count over most of this period, since the March 31-April 1 outbreak, has actually been close to the average, though things could still change. That’s well above the national average of around 660 tornadoes reported by that point over the past 15 years, and it’s similar to 2024 — the second-most active year over that same period. The U.S. has had more reported tornadoes than normal — over 960 as of May 22, according to the National Weather Service’s preliminary count. While not as familiar as Tornado Alley, the designation Dixie Alley generally refers to another part of the country that is likely to experience tornadoes — generally the upper Tennessee Valley and Lower Mississippi Valley.
Violent Tornadoes and Flooding Are Expected in Oklahoma and Texas Tonight
A tornado may already be on the ground, and you may have only seconds to protect yourself. Winter tornadoes have become more frequent over the eastern U.S., from the southeast, dubbed Dixie Alley for its tornado activity in recent years, to the Midwest, particularly Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana. Violent tornado outbreaks, like the storms that tore through parts of St. Louis and London, Kentucky, on May 16, have made 2025 seem like an especially active, deadly and destructive year for tornadoes. A storm scientist explains what’s been driving deadly tornado outbreaks and how tornado season has been changing. Tornados were once ranked by wind speed on the Fujita scale.
If a tornado strikes and you are inside a sturdy building, go to the lowest floor, such as the basement or storm cellar. If the building has no rooms beneath the ground, get to the lowest level possible and find an interior room, putting as many walls as possible between you and the tornado. Don’t bother opening windows to equalize pressure; this will accomplish nothing except to allow more debris inside.
Remember that almost half of tornado-related injuries occur after the tornado has ended. Be careful when entering buildings that have been damaged. Wear sturdy shoes and appropriate clothes to avoid scrapes. Do not touched downed power lines or anything in contact with such lines.
Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. A devastating, nearly mile-wide “wedge tornado” has killed at least 26 people and battered Mississippi with golf ball-size hail and winds up to 200 mph. Tornado Alley is a nickname given to a region stretching across several South Central states where destructive tornadoes are most likely to occur, according to AccuWeather. “More people live in the Mississippi and Tennessee valleys, and more of those families are in vulnerable buildings without basements like mobile homes.” Tornado Alley is really all of the U.S. east of the Rockies and west of the Appalachians for most of the year.
Watch for flying debris, which causes the most fatalities and injuries while the tornado is in process. If you are in a mobile home or trailer, leave immediately. Find the lowest floor of a sturdy shelter, or a ditch or depression. Tornadoes forming over warm water are known as waterspouts, and are most common in southern states and along the Gulf Coast. Twenty-two are dead, more are missing, and many more are injured after a supercell storm spawned a series of tornadoes early Tuesday morning, including one that struck downtown Nashville.