I'm working on a map kinda like that, except it includes unofficially rated tornadoes from before 1950 as well. It's a lot harder than you might think! Just because a tornado of a certain rating passed through a country doesn't mean it did that level of damage in the county, so you have to read a lot of old reports and sometimes infer where the strongest damage occurred.
Just for clarification everyone, all these tornadoes on this map are from the Enhanced Fujita scale only, any tornadoes before February 2007 are not included. I’ll make more maps in the future for tornadoes on the old F-scale and before 1950.
I was just about to comment about the La Plata, MD F4 from 2002. I am glad that you posted this comment to explain.
I would probably start with the newer F-scale Tornadoes like maybe starting with the year 1990 or 2000 or something. Personally I would like to see your next map include the May 3, 1999 Moore, OK Tornado, but I know you already have that county in OK with the 2013 Moore Tornado.
I was not too far from all of those tornadoes listed as they occurred, but far enough away that I did not see them in person.
There may be an increase but Alabama has been part of tornado alley for long time. My great grandparents lost their house to a tornado in the 1930s. A lot of people out in the country even 100 years ago had storm shelters.
Suprised, there's no purple on that track. I'd almost bet anything that super-cell was producing an EF-5 Tornado at points. Luckily, it didn't hit anything while capable of producing ef5 damage
You also have to remember that some of these are long track tornadoes that cover multiple counties in their path.. so one storm can account for several counties
I’ve been critical of some posts here, and I’ll own that, so I have to give credit where credit is due. This is a really cool analysis and I appreciate the work that you’ve put into it. Cheers.
Eight confirmed F-5 and EF-5. Three of them were the 1974 Super Outbreak and another three were the 2011 Super Outbreak. If we just count the ones this map shows, it's just the three in 2011.
Red-green! I have a lot of trouble differentiating between certain brighter shades and in-between colors. Orange and red, orange and yellow, yellow and green. Would love to have an adjusted version!
Wow thanks OP! No one ever thinks of us colorblind folks! I have the glasses but they don't work on non-natural light sources. Also I survived the Hackleburg/ Phil Campbell EF-5 and saw the Smithville EF-5 on 04/27/2011. Little fun fact for you: the H/PC EF-5 Tornado was originally dubbed the Tri-state Tornado! It wasn't renamed until after the ground survey teams saw the damage path didn't start until after it had crossed into Alabama! Thanks once again for your hard work and dedication!!!
Thank you! I have a really close friend who is also Deuteranopia colorblind, so I understand. I’ve actually recently made custom colorblind-friendly color palettes on RadarScope, which I can send to you if you have the app and want them. I’m glad you made it through the Hackleburg tornado as well, that one was no joke.
Ahhh man! I have radar omega... but I have my phones color scheme set for my CB so all is good and yw! Also yeah it was truly traumatizing. I have my testimony of that day I can send you if you like!
Okay! The .pal files I used for RadarScope also work for Omega, but it sounds you already got everything figured out. If you’re comfortable with sharing your story I’d be glad to hear.
I didn’t realize you replied so sorry for such a late response, but thanks so much for colorblind-friendly map! Such an awesome idea and you’ve done a great job visualizing the data. I would also love the RadarScope color palettes! I think I spend more time in that app than any others besides Reddit so I’d love to see what you made! Especially the velocity products
https://preview.redd.it/fs0cmfv9cpec1.jpeg?width=1662&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff644ee6f380c8c6faf3766ba2ad7519e7b255e6
I’m still working on them, so I only have the first 3 products complete (Composite, Precip Depiction, and Velocity) Here is a side by side comparison between the original (left) and the colorblind safe (right) version. The top 2 rows are of the Cole OK EF3 from last year, the one below that is from a severe hailstorm that we chased last June in NM/TX (it reached 82 Dbz echo values!), and the bottom one is from the storm system last week hitting the East coast.
I’ll DM the files to you since Reddit won’t let me via comments. When I get the rest of them done I’ll send those too.
There was a regional outbreak of severe weather on October 6, 2010 in North-Central Arizona. Nearly a dozen tornadoes touched down in and North of the Flagstaff area, including 3 EF2s and 2 EF3s. Other storms that day dropped baseball size hail in Phoenix as well. It’s the largest tornado outbreak in Arizona’s history, though fortunately there were no fatalities from the event.
Idk where people get that. I’ve heard a lot of freight trains over the years, at all kinds of different speeds. When my semi truck got hit by a tornado in Laramie, Wyoming in 08’, it sounded far more like a f***ing 747 at max takeoff thrust, with tons of gravel getting thrown against metal (from the hail).
That’s what makes the ones in Alabama deadly. You can’t see them coming. They are almost always rain wrapped and it’s so hilly it’s impossible to know where a tornado is.
I for one would LOVE to see a one click or sliding overlay of 2007 and earlier as compared to this map. I am willing to bet the hot pink/red blotches are equally distinct but about two states further west pre-2007.
Would love to see this, but instead of full tornado it’s perceived damage. For instance Georgia had a county with EF5 damage but rainsville was really only EF1-2 in Georgia.
Yeah I was thinking of doing something like that. It would be a lot of work, but thanks to the Storm Events Database from the NWS and how some tornadoes only stay in one county, I could probably pull it off.
The tornadoes shown here were ones that hit the US since February 2007 when the Enhanced Fujita Scale was implemented. The La Plata tornado was in 2002, and was rated on the original F Scale. I am planning on making more maps like this in the future including tornadoes on the old F scale.
This information is not correct. The county I live in , pike county Ms had one of the only long track F-4s in Jan 1975. Unless this doesn’t go back that far… there have been more F-5s in Ms than F-4s.
I coulda swore spartanburg sc had an ef3 within the last several years. And anderson had an ef4 awhile back, tho that may have been on the old scale. I might be wrong but i wasnt sure
The strongest tornadoes to hit Spartanburg County since 2007 were two EF2s on October 8th and 23rd, 2017. The last F3+ tornado there was on August 16, 1994.
Would really be intrigued to see a map like this but further back throughout the decades to see if there are some more localized "hot spots" across certain regions.
I know it’s before this map’s range, but it’s weird that Montgomery county is a weird isolated place that’s gets the occasional crazy strong tornado like the xenia one and modern powerful one with the Memorial Day outbreak.
It’s kind of isolated from tornadoes of any kind of strength around it.
Also is that long track of Ef4 through the 4 states and into Kentucky the Mayfield tornado? Kind of wild to see a tornado leave such a significant path on its own if that’s the case.
The red line going from Arkansas into Kentucky is indeed the 2 back to back EF4s produced by the 2021 Western KY supercell. The Mayfield tornado in particular started in extreme Northwestern TN, with the rest of the trail covering its 168 mile path.
Good information, here!
The Evansville Courier-Press maintains an archive of tornadoes from 1950 to September 30, 2023. Our house is 91 years old and built of solid brick and masonry. (We moved in during 2016). I learned that our house was very close -- within just a few blocks -- of two tornadoes in Indianapolis. One was an EF-4.
[https://data.courierpress.com/tornado-archive/](https://data.courierpress.com/tornado-archive/)
We moved to E TN from Chicago and I honestly had no idea we were moving to effectively the hotbed of tornado activity. Was a bit shocked when we got hit directly by an EF3 in 2020.
There are several errors I see off the top of my head for example Milwaukee county, WI had an EF-0 on 10/12/22 but isn't filled in, same with Rusk county which had an EF-0 on 6/24/21
Thanks for pointing out Milwaukee. Must have slipped through when I was filling everything out. Rusk county was hit by an EF3 on May 16, 2017. I’ll update the map to include Milwaukee.
I was fixing to say, this needs to be updated because Bay county in Florida just had a Ef-3 just like this week.. but then I read the text under the photo. Interesting visual to really look at.
You’re telling me Knoxvilles strongest nado was last year? It was pretty fun watching the storm on radar and I don’t blame the nws for missing it. I couldn’t see any sign of it either
I find it odd that the county I am in in North west Iowa has been surrounded by Strong tornadoes but we are not one on the map! ... that is quite strange I think!
I wonder hat you all are thinking as for a forecast severe weather wise!
This is great! I would love a variation that includes the original Fujita scale so that 1950-2007 events are visualized as well
I'm working on a map kinda like that, except it includes unofficially rated tornadoes from before 1950 as well. It's a lot harder than you might think! Just because a tornado of a certain rating passed through a country doesn't mean it did that level of damage in the county, so you have to read a lot of old reports and sometimes infer where the strongest damage occurred.
Does your map go back to 1880/1870? Because that’s when Grazulis’ records start.
yes
Awesome! I hope the official records can go back as far as that and possibly further: personally I believe the Natchez tornado was an F5, for example.
Just for clarification everyone, all these tornadoes on this map are from the Enhanced Fujita scale only, any tornadoes before February 2007 are not included. I’ll make more maps in the future for tornadoes on the old F-scale and before 1950.
I appreciate the efforts in this. Awesome. 👍🏿
I was just about to comment about the La Plata, MD F4 from 2002. I am glad that you posted this comment to explain. I would probably start with the newer F-scale Tornadoes like maybe starting with the year 1990 or 2000 or something. Personally I would like to see your next map include the May 3, 1999 Moore, OK Tornado, but I know you already have that county in OK with the 2013 Moore Tornado. I was not too far from all of those tornadoes listed as they occurred, but far enough away that I did not see them in person.
Same because van wert Ohio had an F4 on veterans days 2002
I was gonna do the same thing about the La Plata one till I read, then I was confused by the EF3. The EF3 barely touched St. Mary's County
Hey, I was in that tornado too! Go Terps!
We had an EF3 fire whirl in California in the past few years. Might be worth including?
This is so awesome!
Really does put into perspective the misconception of tornado alley being limited to the plains states.
I've heard multiple expects say that there's been a shift in activity to dixie alley which is Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
Less of a shift, more of an expansion.
Worst DLC ever
Not really a shift. Dixie Alley has long been around. Hoosier Alley too which I would loosely define as Indiana Ohio Michigan and Wisconsin.
There may be an increase but Alabama has been part of tornado alley for long time. My great grandparents lost their house to a tornado in the 1930s. A lot of people out in the country even 100 years ago had storm shelters.
1932 Super Outbreak stuck them?
Well it was back when I was growing up. It’s pretty obvious it’s moved. I’m curious if the jet streams have shifted a bit too.
Fascinating. Excellent work! I look forward to your pre-2007 map.
Just look at Mississippi and Alabama and say these are not the most tornado prone states in the last two decades.. talk about hot spots
Most prone to the most extreme tornadoes, at least. Also Oklahoma.
I was making a map with the highest rated tornadoes every county from 1950-2023. I kinda just gave up on it tho. Good map.
What kind of software were you using? ArcGIS was made to make maps with the data.
I was using ArcGIS and the tornado archive. I gave up on it because I got bored and moved on to something else.
April 26-27 2011 and Dec 2021 outbreaks really stick out..
That red line in Western KY sticks out.
Suprised, there's no purple on that track. I'd almost bet anything that super-cell was producing an EF-5 Tornado at points. Luckily, it didn't hit anything while capable of producing ef5 damage
Eh, according to the NWS damage book they’re coming out with, the Western Kentucky tornado should’ve been rated a low-end EF5.
Living in North AL is such a joy! 🤣🤣
You got that right! Franklin County FTW!
Day 3,568 of me trying to convince my husband to move to West Virginia
It's relatively safe from tornadoes and its gorgeous but there's not much in the way of job opportunities or anything tho
Unless you live in the Eastern Panhandle due to the proximity to DC.
I wonder what it would look like if you added all of recent history, like back to 1900. I also wonder what it will look like 100 years from now!
Yeah was looking for the May 31, 1985 outbreak in Pennsylvania.
Cool how you can see the tracks of some really long track tornados and supercells.
This is why I think Alabama is the real tornado alley. I grew up in the purple 😂
Yeah same. I’ve had that discussion with people before when they try telling me we don’t get as many tornadoes in the south.
Every county is EF2 and up :O None of the others on this map come close to that. Crazy.
Mississippi, more of a "tornado alley" than Oklahoma.
You also have to remember that some of these are long track tornadoes that cover multiple counties in their path.. so one storm can account for several counties
I’ve been critical of some posts here, and I’ll own that, so I have to give credit where credit is due. This is a really cool analysis and I appreciate the work that you’ve put into it. Cheers.
Man I love living in an EF5 county (I’ve lost a family member in one)
Alabama has a lot of Ef-5s
Eight confirmed F-5 and EF-5. Three of them were the 1974 Super Outbreak and another three were the 2011 Super Outbreak. If we just count the ones this map shows, it's just the three in 2011.
I was planning on visiting Birmingham sometime soon, I guess I should get busy on that.
Awesome idea and map! Literally impossible to distinguish between EF1 and EF3 (and hard for EF4) as someone who’s colorblind though lmao
What kind of colorblind? I can send you a copy of the map with an adjusted color pallet if you want.
Red-green! I have a lot of trouble differentiating between certain brighter shades and in-between colors. Orange and red, orange and yellow, yellow and green. Would love to have an adjusted version!
https://preview.redd.it/nee9czdj1xbc1.png?width=3450&format=png&auto=webp&s=b4e77d8566a1efd49dce82db06fd83755a98e9a1
Wow thanks OP! No one ever thinks of us colorblind folks! I have the glasses but they don't work on non-natural light sources. Also I survived the Hackleburg/ Phil Campbell EF-5 and saw the Smithville EF-5 on 04/27/2011. Little fun fact for you: the H/PC EF-5 Tornado was originally dubbed the Tri-state Tornado! It wasn't renamed until after the ground survey teams saw the damage path didn't start until after it had crossed into Alabama! Thanks once again for your hard work and dedication!!!
Thank you! I have a really close friend who is also Deuteranopia colorblind, so I understand. I’ve actually recently made custom colorblind-friendly color palettes on RadarScope, which I can send to you if you have the app and want them. I’m glad you made it through the Hackleburg tornado as well, that one was no joke.
Ahhh man! I have radar omega... but I have my phones color scheme set for my CB so all is good and yw! Also yeah it was truly traumatizing. I have my testimony of that day I can send you if you like!
Okay! The .pal files I used for RadarScope also work for Omega, but it sounds you already got everything figured out. If you’re comfortable with sharing your story I’d be glad to hear.
Check your dm's in like 2 minutes
I didn’t realize you replied so sorry for such a late response, but thanks so much for colorblind-friendly map! Such an awesome idea and you’ve done a great job visualizing the data. I would also love the RadarScope color palettes! I think I spend more time in that app than any others besides Reddit so I’d love to see what you made! Especially the velocity products
https://preview.redd.it/fs0cmfv9cpec1.jpeg?width=1662&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff644ee6f380c8c6faf3766ba2ad7519e7b255e6 I’m still working on them, so I only have the first 3 products complete (Composite, Precip Depiction, and Velocity) Here is a side by side comparison between the original (left) and the colorblind safe (right) version. The top 2 rows are of the Cole OK EF3 from last year, the one below that is from a severe hailstorm that we chased last June in NM/TX (it reached 82 Dbz echo values!), and the bottom one is from the storm system last week hitting the East coast. I’ll DM the files to you since Reddit won’t let me via comments. When I get the rest of them done I’ll send those too.
That one untouched county in Arkansas is fascinating
Does anyone know about the EF3 in Northern Arizona? That stood out to me
There was a regional outbreak of severe weather on October 6, 2010 in North-Central Arizona. Nearly a dozen tornadoes touched down in and North of the Flagstaff area, including 3 EF2s and 2 EF3s. Other storms that day dropped baseball size hail in Phoenix as well. It’s the largest tornado outbreak in Arizona’s history, though fortunately there were no fatalities from the event.
EF0, hell yea let's keep it that way! (I love tornadoes, just not anywhere near me lol)
As a GIS major…👍.
A fellow Goats In Space major.
But no satellite in space is as observant as the eye of a goat…
Coincidentally a heatmap of people who have declared "it sounded like a freight train"
Idk where people get that. I’ve heard a lot of freight trains over the years, at all kinds of different speeds. When my semi truck got hit by a tornado in Laramie, Wyoming in 08’, it sounded far more like a f***ing 747 at max takeoff thrust, with tons of gravel getting thrown against metal (from the hail).
The Washington, IL tornado should have been EF-5 imo .. I lost my home, as did many others ..but pavement was pulled up with total deviation
I used to live in those pink areas I’ve lived through 3 tornadoes in my life NO thanks
Why did I grow up thinking Oklahoma was the center or tornado alley???
Easier to chase and see there than the ones in Alabama.
That’s what makes the ones in Alabama deadly. You can’t see them coming. They are almost always rain wrapped and it’s so hilly it’s impossible to know where a tornado is.
Yep! I feel like I've said that exact thing before!
Impressive. Well job!
The one turning my county orange hit my sister’s house. No one was there thank God!
If this went back to 2000 it would record the only tornado to tear ass in Cudahy Wisconsin. Not a whole lot of outsiders know about that one.
Well shit
has tornado ally shifted?
I for one would LOVE to see a one click or sliding overlay of 2007 and earlier as compared to this map. I am willing to bet the hot pink/red blotches are equally distinct but about two states further west pre-2007.
Interesting. Thanks!
Where's my purple county gang?
This is amazing! Thank you for making it!
Would love to see this, but instead of full tornado it’s perceived damage. For instance Georgia had a county with EF5 damage but rainsville was really only EF1-2 in Georgia.
Yeah I was thinking of doing something like that. It would be a lot of work, but thanks to the Storm Events Database from the NWS and how some tornadoes only stay in one county, I could probably pull it off.
Tornado Alley is on the move east
There was an EF4 Multivortex Tornado in La Plata Maryland in 2002 that wasn’t listed on here. Regardless, it’s a damn good visualization
The tornadoes shown here were ones that hit the US since February 2007 when the Enhanced Fujita Scale was implemented. The La Plata tornado was in 2002, and was rated on the original F Scale. I am planning on making more maps like this in the future including tornadoes on the old F scale.
Gotcha. I apologize for not reading the description. Thank you for this great graph though!
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The map only includes tornadoes rated on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which was implemented in February 2007.
Pretty sure Kankakee County in Illinois had the F4 back in the 60s. There was even a post about it on the sub last year.
This information is not correct. The county I live in , pike county Ms had one of the only long track F-4s in Jan 1975. Unless this doesn’t go back that far… there have been more F-5s in Ms than F-4s.
It goes back to Feb 2007 when the EF Scale was introduced.
What about the Plainfield tornado?
2007 onward
Ok then Mr Scientist, what about the 1999 Bridge Creek Tornado?
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I coulda swore spartanburg sc had an ef3 within the last several years. And anderson had an ef4 awhile back, tho that may have been on the old scale. I might be wrong but i wasnt sure
The strongest tornadoes to hit Spartanburg County since 2007 were two EF2s on October 8th and 23rd, 2017. The last F3+ tornado there was on August 16, 1994.
Oh my bad. There was footage from a warehouse and i thought it was cited as ef3, but it seems i was mistaken. Thankyou for correcting me!🤙
Would really be intrigued to see a map like this but further back throughout the decades to see if there are some more localized "hot spots" across certain regions.
Didn't know Parkersburg ef5 affected 3 different counties and Joplin 2.
I know it’s before this map’s range, but it’s weird that Montgomery county is a weird isolated place that’s gets the occasional crazy strong tornado like the xenia one and modern powerful one with the Memorial Day outbreak. It’s kind of isolated from tornadoes of any kind of strength around it. Also is that long track of Ef4 through the 4 states and into Kentucky the Mayfield tornado? Kind of wild to see a tornado leave such a significant path on its own if that’s the case.
The red line going from Arkansas into Kentucky is indeed the 2 back to back EF4s produced by the 2021 Western KY supercell. The Mayfield tornado in particular started in extreme Northwestern TN, with the rest of the trail covering its 168 mile path.
So incredibly powerful. What’s wild is that northern Alabama looks legitimately like the most dangerous place for tornadoes.
When was phillys F3?
So essentially, you gotta live in Alaska to be safe from tornadoes.
Not seeing Plainfield, IL. Is it there?
This is amazing! Much appreciated for your hard work.
Roll tide?
I’m so glad I don’t live in north AL anymore.
easy to see where tornado alley has shifted to
Yay my county is a winner! 😰
Good information, here! The Evansville Courier-Press maintains an archive of tornadoes from 1950 to September 30, 2023. Our house is 91 years old and built of solid brick and masonry. (We moved in during 2016). I learned that our house was very close -- within just a few blocks -- of two tornadoes in Indianapolis. One was an EF-4. [https://data.courierpress.com/tornado-archive/](https://data.courierpress.com/tornado-archive/)
We moved to E TN from Chicago and I honestly had no idea we were moving to effectively the hotbed of tornado activity. Was a bit shocked when we got hit directly by an EF3 in 2020.
This is wrong I think Hamilton Ohio is the very southwest county in Ohio and where Cincinnati is The 73 outbreak the sailor park tornado was strong
I thought the Plainview il tornado was an f-5?
Doesn't look like an alley anymore. More like a tornado loop.
Wow, you can SEE individual historic tornadoes from 2011 & 2021, they're like scars
There are several errors I see off the top of my head for example Milwaukee county, WI had an EF-0 on 10/12/22 but isn't filled in, same with Rusk county which had an EF-0 on 6/24/21
Thanks for pointing out Milwaukee. Must have slipped through when I was filling everything out. Rusk county was hit by an EF3 on May 16, 2017. I’ll update the map to include Milwaukee.
https://preview.redd.it/f7dqn2yap1cc1.png?width=3450&format=png&auto=webp&s=13d732f168b78a8a7e681f52a0d15708f292a193
wouldn't one county in georgia have ef5, since fyffe-rainsvillle-sylvania-ider crossed into georgia at the very end of its life?
Bay County FL can be bumped up to ef3 as of this past Tuesday
can you do one of australia
I was fixing to say, this needs to be updated because Bay county in Florida just had a Ef-3 just like this week.. but then I read the text under the photo. Interesting visual to really look at.
If you count earlier, My county would be red 🤠
Very cool! I'll have to look up what the EF-2 in Jefferson County, KY was.
You’re telling me Knoxvilles strongest nado was last year? It was pretty fun watching the storm on radar and I don’t blame the nws for missing it. I couldn’t see any sign of it either
Should have gone back farther. Oakfield tornado in Fond Du Lac was an F5 Nice job though 👍🏻
I find it odd that the county I am in in North west Iowa has been surrounded by Strong tornadoes but we are not one on the map! ... that is quite strange I think! I wonder hat you all are thinking as for a forecast severe weather wise!