We’re still deep in the heart of winter, but tornado season is right around the corner. (You can check out interesting tornado factoids at the NOAA site, here. ) If you live in the Southeast, look out.
A study from the December issue of “Weather and Forecasting,” published by the American Meteorological Society, finds that the deadliest twisters touch down a little closer to Dixie.
Tornado Alley, which stretches from Texas through the Dakotas, still gets the most tornadoes in a given year. But Walker Ashley, a meteorologist at Northern Illinois University, found that the most fatalities occur in a swath further south.
From the press release:
“The country’s most vulnerable region for tornado-related fatalities and killer tornado events basically stretches from Little Rock to Memphis to Tupelo to Birmingham,” Ashley said.
What makes the Southeast more susceptible to killer tornadoes? Lots of factors: more mobile homes, more forests (which block the view of tornado-spotters), more nighttime tornadoes, and complacency.
“In the South, people think tornado alley is where you get tornadoes,” Ashley said. “That sort of perception also leads to complacency, which in turn leads to higher fatality rates.” He points out that Oklahoma is known worldwide for the frequency of its tornadoes. Yet the state has fewer fatalities than Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi.
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