Tornado Alley Facts

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Tornado Alley Facts
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Tornado Alley

• Over 1,000 tornadoes touch down in US/year
• 95 tornadoes in US occur in Tornado Alley
• Tornado Alley is located in the Great Plains
  (Minnesota to Texas)

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Why does Tornado Alley have so many tornadoes?

• Warm moist air rising from Gulf of Mexico meets
  cold dry air sinking from Rocky mountains and
  Canada.
• The front that forms creates massive storms and
  intense air movement.

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Tornadoes

• Moves in three ways
• Rotating movement (swirling/twisting)
• Lateral movement (sideways)
• Upward

• Reaches speeds from 40 mph to over 300 mph

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What is a bundle??

• Multiple vortices of funnel clouds in one area.
• Can be the result of one massive tornado cloud
  separating into many.

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Supercell?

• Massive thunderstorm cloud with a persistent
  rotating updraft.

Waterspout?Rotating column of air
over a large body of water. Some waterspouts
begin as a tornado, then move over water.
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Fujita Scale

• Rates tornadoes according to wind speed.

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Live in Tornado Alley?? Here are some supplies
to keep on hand.

• Radio with extra batteries
• Flashlight with extra batteries
• Food/Water supply
• First aid kit
• Any medications needed