The vast majority of tornadoes occur in the US, in Tornado Alley

[Liberal_in_LA]

Just looked up this fact. It struck me that I don't hear of tornadoes occuring around the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. That's why they call it Tornado Alley...

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. well yeah... but still didn't realize it's ONLY an American thing. Call me stupid.

:freak:

[Myrina]

3. LMAO +100

n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. :-(

[pintobean]

17. I laughed, too, but it was a good thing

The 'call me stupid' crack did it. Many on this board would, and could never admit not knowing something. Your honesty is respected by this DUer.

[Drale]

5. Its because we have just a large area of plains

Most other continents are either to cold, to hot or have a ton of mountains to allow the formation of many tornado's.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. our bad luck

[pipi_k]

15. It's also from the interaction

of hot and cold air masses with relation to the Jet Stream.

To put it real simply.

[MineralMan]

7. They do occur in other places, too, but

you're right. Most occur in this country. The conditions are exactly right in "Tornado Alley" for the storms that create them, unlike anywhere else on this planet.

The Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean feed moisture into the area, and Canada sends cold air into the same area. Tornado Alley is a warm place. When moisture, heat, and cold mix, it can be an explosive combination, as we see each year in the midwest. Scary stuff.

[Sylvarose]

8. yep..lived here all my life

..when I was in grade school a funnel cloud went over my house and landed a few miles up the road in the small town where my elementary school was...wiped it out..was an old three story brick building.

riding out another night...had two cells go to the north and south (the one to the south had injuries waiting to hear more) of me tonight..and round two of tornado producing storms is about an hour away.

..got my iphone charged with alert apps loaded..and pillows and heavy blanket stowed in the closet..watching the radar on the net and listening for sirens..ready to take cover if need to...

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. glad you are prepared. Stay safe.

[Sylvarose]

11. another warning

..yep..storm popped up faster than expected! new warning ..just 24 west of me..moving NE...looks like it's gonna go just north of me again..(fingers crossed)

[fishwax]

10. I wasn't aware of how tilted it was to North America, either

A quick glance at wikipedia shows 15 outbreaks with 35+ tornadoes and 9 fatalities so far this century. Asia has had a similar number of outbreaks, though they've had more fatalities.

Meanwhile here in the U.S. we've had four outbreaks this year alone with 450+ tornadoes and more than 500 fatalities :wow:

List of European outbreaks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_tornadoes_and_tornado_outbreaks
List of North American outbreaks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_American_tornadoes_and_tornado_outbreaks#2010.E2.80.932011
List of Asian outbreaks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asian_tornadoes_and_tornado_outbreaks

[psdoffkentuckian]

12. Deadliest in Banglidesh...

...who knew?

"The deadliest tornado in world history was the Daultipur-Salturia Tornado in Bangladesh on April 26, 1989, which killed approximately 1300 people. Bangladesh has had at least 19 tornadoes in its history kill more than 100 people, almost half of the total in the rest of the world."
From Wikipedia

[Sylvarose]

13. those NE of columbus, IN

Take cover! Large tornado on the ground!!!

[Synicus Maximus]

14. And you almost never hear of monsoones in the Americas

[Generic Brad]

16. Some African men brought that up with me yesterday

One was from Liberia, another from Kenya, and another from Zimbabwe. All three told me they had never heard of a tornado touching down on the African continent. Until they mentioned it, I just assumed Africa had them too.

[Odin2005]

19. Supercells are very rare in fully tropical weather systems, IIRC.

Supercells require the interaction of warm and very humid air on one hand and cool and very dry air on the other hand. This is why, in the South, Tornado Season is in the spring. By summer the South becomes dominated by tropical air from the Gulf

[Liberal_in_LA]

20. Glad I'm not the only one!

[AC_Mem]

18. I was watching local weather

While we sat ready to run to the bathroom (we are in Memphis) and the US radar map was on the air. Honest to goodness, when they ran the loop it looked like a hurricane in the middle of America coming down from Canada. Just like a land hurricane.

Very strange looking!

Annette (who drove through a tornado last year, don't look forward to sitting through these storms again)