Where is tornado alley and why does it exist?
- last year
Tornado alley is an area in the United States that experiences over half the world's tornadoes every year. So where exactly is tornado alley and why do so many tornadoes form there?
Tornadoes are nature’s most violent storms - spawned from powerful thunderstorms - that can produce winds of up to 300mph.
Every year an average of 1000 tornadoes are recorded in the United States, approximately 75% of the World’s tornadoes.
Most of these touch down in an area known as Tornado Alley.
Tornado Alley is a nickname for a particularly active area of the US for tornadoes that sits across a number of states, from Texas to South Dakota.
The tornado season is from Spring to early summer, with a peak in May.
The key ingredients for tornadoes meet across Tornado Alley.
Warm, moist low levels winds from the Gulf of Mexico clashes with cold, higher winds that flow south from the Rockies.
As these two air masses collide a huge amount of energy and spin is created.
Resulting in multiple thunderstorms, known as supercells, the breeding ground for tornadoes.
Tornadoes are nature’s most violent storms - spawned from powerful thunderstorms - that can produce winds of up to 300mph.
Every year an average of 1000 tornadoes are recorded in the United States, approximately 75% of the World’s tornadoes.
Most of these touch down in an area known as Tornado Alley.
Tornado Alley is a nickname for a particularly active area of the US for tornadoes that sits across a number of states, from Texas to South Dakota.
The tornado season is from Spring to early summer, with a peak in May.
The key ingredients for tornadoes meet across Tornado Alley.
Warm, moist low levels winds from the Gulf of Mexico clashes with cold, higher winds that flow south from the Rockies.
As these two air masses collide a huge amount of energy and spin is created.
Resulting in multiple thunderstorms, known as supercells, the breeding ground for tornadoes.