New Tornado Alley Maps

By Gabe Correa
Jan. 3, 2009

Due to the tornadoes frequent happening in the southern states more and more, like Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky with many deaths in those states because of it. Dr. Charles Doswell explains about Tornado Alley and says is where most tornadoes are most frequent, that's called Tornado Alley. The term Tornado Alley did not come from the experts or meteorologists, it came from the news media, that coined the word tornado alley.

Since the southern states are having more frequent tornadoes now, and more tornadoes every year thru out these states, Dr. Charles Doswell (storm chaser) explains that they are now in tornado alley, but coined the word, Dixie Alley. The new maps below show Dixie Alley joining Tornado Alley. If you click on my link on Tornado Frequency, you'll see over the years we are having more tornadoes now, than in the past, especially in the southern states.

Here's the video that explains Tornado Alley, with Dr. Charles Doswell (storm chaser) comments, and weather channel meteorologist:

TORNADO ALLEY

Where is Tornado Alley?

By Tim Baker

Some consider tornado alley as the area where only the most intense killer tornadoes are likely to occur, looking where F4 and F5 tornadoes have struck in history multiple times. Others draw tornado alley only where tornado frequency is the highest, looking at areas that have recorded multiple tornado touchdowns consistently year after year. Some years certain states seem to get enough tornadoes to qualify as part of tornado alley but, when looking at tornadoes over many years in that state you see that it was just an unusual period for them. With many areas experiencing warmer than normal temperatures, traditional tornado alley maps don't seem to represent those climate changes accurately.

I believe we need to rethink where tornado alley is with these climate changes. A warm January will lead to a shift in tornadoes to more north and eastern states than traditional tornado alley maps represent.

Many arguments over what states are in tornado alley take place, so to be fair qualify what criteria you are using in determining tornado alley. In 2004 people in Illinois were at greater risk than most of the areas people think of as tornado alley.

If you were to be exact about tornado alley, it would really be made up of hundreds of little strips, and never one large alley. Tornado alley maps are all made up of a general area from data taken over a long period of time. Tornado alley should be thought of on a more yearly basis also, since weather patterns can change, making some states harder hit one year versus others, like Illinois in 1925, 1974 and 2004.

Some people have asked if tornadoes appear everywhere in tornado alley. The fact is on all tornado alley maps there are areas that have never had a tornado hit there. Remember, not every city in tornado alley has been struck by a tornado while others have had many tornadoes hit them.

The 1974 super tornado outbreak took place in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. How many maps include these states in Tornado Alley? Not very many, some don’t include any of them; even I don’t include all of them. States such as Florida also have many small tornadoes but because the intensity of most of them is low, it is seldom considered as part of Tornado Alley by anyone.

In 1925 the Tri-State tornado killed 695 people in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, yet many don’t include these in Tornado Alley, I do. In November 2002 a tornado outbreak took place in Alabama, Tennessee and Ohio, Killing at least 36 people. Friday, September 20th 2002 a tornado outbreak hit Indiana, I include these states in Tornado Alley, others don't. History tells me Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee are dangerous tornado states.

Severe Weather and Deadly Storms Strike Tennessee and Other States

By Salem-News.com
Feb-06-2008

(NASHVILLE) - Tennessee experienced at least two waves of severe weather that ranged from high-winds and hail to deadly tornadoes. As of 5:30 AM Wednesday, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency is reporting 26 confirmed fatalities related to the storm activity.

Those deaths, recorded by the Tennessee Department of Health, occurred in the following counties: Shelby, Fayette, Hardin, Macon, Madison, Sumner and Trousdale. More than 149 people have been reported as being injured and one person is presumed missing.

The State Emergency Operations Center in Nashville was activated by TEMA’s Director James Bassham Tuesday night at 6:30 PM CST as the storms began a deadly march across the state from Memphis through Middle Tennessee.

The storm caused several crashes, but the most severe was located West of Jackson, Tenn., on Interstate 40. These crashes, involved more than 25 tractor-trailers and temporarily closed the highway in both directions.

In Memphis, the storm released more than 120,000 lbs. of anhydrous ammonia when a tank was ruptured at the Hardy Bottling Company on East Rains. This release to the atmosphere poses no risk to the public, officials said.

At Union University in Madison County, 16 students were temporarily trapped in a dormitory after it was struck by a tornado. More than 30 people were transported to the Jackson-Madison Hospital.

A fire from a natural gas pipeline at the Columbia Gulf Transmission Co. facility in Hartsville, Tennessee, was highly visible for much of the night. The fire, which has now burned out, reports indicated flames at one time reaching as high as 400 to 500 feet into the air due to the pressurized nature of the long-distance transmission pipeline.

By Iammatt4ever , Length Time: 8:25

This is a video of the F5 tornado that hit Elie, Manitoba on June 22, 2007, an F5 tornado struck the town of Elie, Manitoba, 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Winnipeg. While several houses were leveled, no one was injured or killed by the tornado.

The following day, Environment Canada sent out a storm damage survey team to assess the damage caused by the tornado. On September 18, 2007, the tornado was upgraded to F5 on the Fujita Scale from the original F4, as winds were determined to be between 420 km/h and 515 km/h (261 and 318 mph), based on video analysis of the tornado and reassessment of the damage[2]. This was the first tornado in Canada to be officially rated as such, making it the strongest confirmed tornado in Canadian history.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the loss of loved ones. Our purpose of putting the videos on Tornadoe Warning Online web site is to prevent the loss of life. By seeing the devastation of a tornado might save somebody life. Please take action when there is a "Tornado Warning" in your area.

By Shane92589, Length Time: 4:58

Song title: Praise You In This Storm, By Casting Crowns
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. April 10, 2009 -- The deadly tornado that hit Murfreesboro on Friday was upgraded on Monday to an EF-4, meaning the storm packed winds of 166 mph to 200 mph, said the director of Rutherford County Emergency Management Services Director Roger Allen. Two-hundred ninety homes have major damage and 164 have minor damage. Two-hundredy thirty-five more homes were directly affected in some way from the tornados.

The estimated cost to businesses and residents is currently placed at $40.2 million. The National Weather Service said the tornado tore a 23.5-mile path through Murfreesboro and packed winds as high as 165 mph. The width of the storm was a half-mile, and it was on the ground for 36 minutes. White confirmed that a 9-week-old girl and her mother, Kori Bryant, 30, died at the corner of Haynes Drive and Sulphur Springs Road. Her child, Olivia, was found in a car seat 200 yards from their house. Bryant's husband, John, was critically injured and hospitalized. A fund for the family was set up at area Bank of America branches.

By Randy946, Length Time: 3:22

Tornado, Oklahoma City, May 3, 1999
Oklahoma City - November 24, 2006 — Footage of the May 3, 1999 tornado that tore through the southwest side of Oklahoma City. The audio heard on the first part of the video is from TV station KFOR that was simulcasting on FM radio. The other audio is the local Oklahoma City police channel. This video was taken from an on duty police unit, it ends when downed power lines blocked the path and the officer went into rescue mode, shooting no more video the rest of the evening.

At the beginning of the video the tornado was an F4. It then reduced to F3 or F2 for a brief period, then spun back up to an F5 near the end of the video. Oklahoma University's DOW truck recorded a wind speed of 318 mph from this tornado a few minutes prior to the start of this video.