• Key Information

  • Tornado Alley

  • Type
    Area of Frequent Tornadoes
  • Area
    Core: Northern Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa along with South Dakota. Additional: Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, and western Ohio
  • Most Powerful Tornado
    Tri-State Tornado, March 18, 1925
  • Learning Point
  • Tornado alley is a term used to describe a number of states in the United States that have a high frequency of tornadoes, and the most devastating tornadoes have been found in that area. Though the home to many tornadoes, there are many places on earth that also have a high number of tornadoes, though the conditions of tornado alley make it an ideal place for 'twisters' to form.
  • Project
  • Draw one of the types of tornado we learned about.
  • Location
  • Located in
    United States
  • Fun Facts
  • The term "tornado alley" was first used in 1952 by U.S. Air Force meteorologists Major Ernest J. Fawbush and Captain Robert C. Miller, as the title of a research project.
  • The most "extreme" tornado in recorded history was the Tri-State Tornado, which spread through parts of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana on March 18, 1925
  • Florida has the highest frequency of tornadoes per 10,000 square miles, just over 12, partly because of the large amounts of water spouts seen in the state.
  • Canada gets the second most tornadoes in the world after the United States.