Tornados Not Unique to U.S. But More Common Here

A reader sent me this question: Why do we see tornadoes in the United States so regularly, but rarely see them in other places around the world?

That’s because of the special set of conditions that we see in the central United States that is called Tornado Alley, where cold dry air from the North is able to mix with warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and create small localized areas of very high instability and boom, a tornado is born.

It’s a bit more complicated than that, but this is the shortened version. So if it only takes these two major factors, why don’t we see tornadoes in other countries? Tornadoes aren’t a uniquely American phenomenon, they have happened on every continent in the world except Antarctica, but not anywhere near the rate we have here because of the previously mentioned geological predisposition we have.

Now, these tornadoes aren’t nearly as strong on average compared to what we get here, most of the time they are fairly weak EF-0 or EF-1 rated, but there have been exceptions to this.

The deadliest tornado ever recorded wasn’t in the United States and it wasn’t even in the Western Hemisphere. It was in the South Asian Country of Bangladesh in 1989. In late April of that year the atmosphere was perfectly mixed to produce a devastating two and a half mile wide tornado that tore through the slums of Manikganj Sadar and Saturia, killing an estimated 1,300 people, injuring 12,000 and leaving 80,000 people homeless. This is the most extreme example of worldwide tornadoes, but this area on the sub-continent is one of the few places around the world that matches the characteristics of Tornado Alley. They have warm moist air coming right off the Bay of Bengal and cool dry air rushing down from the Himalayas and many other countries have the same sort of specific conditions that we have, like most of Western Europe, South Africa and parts of Australia. What sets us apart is the ability for these devastating storms to reach their full ferocity right here in Tornado Alley.

If you like reading my articles or have any questions you would like answered then please send me an email at tomy3290@gmail.com. As college is back in full stride for me, it makes these articles better for me and you when I am answering your questions, so please send me a message if you have any suggestions or questions. It greatly reduces the difficulty in writing these articles. Now onto your local weather.

With the cold front that blew in late Sunday night bringing some much needed rain and cooler temps, we expect to see nothing but sunny skies this weekend with highs hovering around the top of the 60’s and low 70’s with cooler nights around the low 50’s. Very low chances of rain this weekend and no astronomical events to report. Thanks and Gig’em!