Cities Not Immune to Tornadoes

[JonathanBelles]

Dr. Greg Forbes just posted some of the cities that get hit the most often in the US by tornadoes.

Link Here

[bighaben]

In each instance, the city is more vulnerable than the rest of the state, according to tornado records!

I wonder if cities appear to see more tornado's than rural area's as the likely hood of a EF1, or EF0 is much more likely to be seen in an urban area. I may be crazy, but is it possible for these "small" tornado's to not be detected or even cared about in a rural area like the middle of Kansas?

A few knocked down trees in the middle of nowhere might be overlooked compared to a few knocked down trees in someones neighborhood.

I'm just surprised as Houston is not known for their Tornado's but it's ranked #4? However, I do know that it was quite frequent for small tornado's to spin up in strong thunderstorms.

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

Well I can't speak for the United States but I know in Canada if a tornado hits a field in Saskatchewan/Manitoba/Alberta (middle of nowhere) and there isn't any damage to structures/equipment or a death they won't send someone out to assess what its EF level was.

They do think we've had a few more F4/F5 tornadoes on the Canadian prairies than just the one or two that are on the records but they, do indeed, spin out in the middle of nowhere.

"Canada ranks second in the world for the occurrence of tornadoes, averaging 80-100 tornadoes annually, compared to an average of 1000-1200 in the United States. The incidence of tornadoes in Canada is probably higher than that, but Canada has large, unmonitored and sparsely populated areas where tornadoes may go unreported." http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/ ... RTA0008048

I'm pretty sure the United States, though I know it has excellent monitoring of them now (in comparison to up here) also had a similar history when it came to wide open, less populated areas.

[thetruesms]

I may be crazy, but is it possible for these "small" tornado's to not be detected or even cared about in a rural area like the middle of Kansas?

These days, there are at least several people around to see any tornado that may come down anywhere in the Plains

But yes, rural areas probably do see an underreporting of tornadoes on the whole compared to more populated areas.

[Category 5]

"32. Philadelphia, PA 1.02"

Its rare but we have the occasional what I like to call "parking lot tornado" every few years. Been a while since we had one in the city though IIRC (I wanna say 1998-1999)

[tronbunny]

Just goes to show that TX and FL attract the most spinning winds.
They are meterologically similar locales. (Eastern TX and all FL, that is)

But not sure what the deal with NYC is...

How about the notable number of tornado shelters designated at Denver airport. What's that about?

[bighaben]

Just goes to show that TX and FL attract the most spinning winds.
They are meterologically similar locales. (Eastern TX and all FL, that is)

But not sure what the deal with NYC is...

How about the notable number of tornado shelters designated at Denver airport. What's that about?

Area's east of Denver, where the airport is, are prone to large devastating Tornado's. A few years back about 30 miles north and a little west of the airport there was a massive EF5 tornado that leveled part of a town, Windsor I believe was the name of the town. So, the airport needs those.

I also don't know the deal with NYC, but I suppose it's possible for small tornado's to hit the city like anywhere else. That's one thing I don't like about this list, it doesn't do a good job designating between area's prone to large devastating tornado's, and places that get small tornado's like everywhere else.

[HarlequinBoy]

No, the Windsor/Weld County Colorado tornado was was a big mile wide EF3, not EF5. Regardless, it was still a devastating tornado and definitely reinforces the fact that the eastern half of Colorado is part of Tornado Alley.

Personally, I don't believe tornadoes in the Plains are heavily under-reported. I think there's enough storm chasers and surveys done to record most tornadoes there. Plus with most supercells there being low HP tornadoes are more easily visible. I think it's the intensity of Plains tornadoes that are not recorded well. Imo, it's Dixie Alley tornadoes that are under-reported. When I think of cities that are tornado magnets I think of Oklahoma City, St. Louis, and Birmingham.