Short Stuff: Tornado Alley

Summary

Stuff You Should Know: Short Stuff – Tornado Alley

Hosts: Josh and Chuck (with Jerry sitting in for Dave)
Episode: Short Stuff: Tornado Alley
Produced by: iHeartPodcasts

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1. Introduction

In this episode of Stuff You Should Know, hosts Josh and Chuck delve deeper into the phenomenon of tornadoes, focusing on the well-known Tornado Alley in the United States. With Jerry stepping in for Dave, the conversation navigates through geography, meteorological conditions, historical context, and the evolving understanding of tornado patterns in the face of climate change.

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2. Definition and Geography of Tornado Alley

Josh begins by outlining Tornado Alley as a predominantly contested region in the United States, stretching from Texas up to the Dakotas and veering into states like Iowa, Indiana, and Ohio. He explains, “Tornado Alley is considered such because it has the most tornadoes of anywhere else in the United States, which means that it has more tornadoes than anywhere else in the world” (01:29).

Chuck adds to the discussion by highlighting the vast, open plains characteristic of Tornado Alley, which contribute to the frequent and visible tornado activity: “They have a lot of that kind of weather happening, thanks to where they are, basically” (02:40).

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3. Conditions for Tornado Formation

The hosts delve into the meteorological factors that make Tornado Alley a hotspot for tornadoes. Chuck describes the necessary conditions: “They form through instability in the atmosphere. So a lot of moist, warm air beneath that cooler, drier air. And then, something called wind shear, which is when winds are changing with height” (02:05). Josh elaborates, explaining how warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico meets cooler, drier air from the west, creating the perfect environment for supercell thunderstorms that spawn tornadoes.

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4. Tornadoes Beyond Tornado Alley

While Tornado Alley is notorious for its tornado activity, Josh points out that tornadoes can and do occur outside this region: “Anywhere you find that, where there's instability and wind shear, a tornado can break out. And they do break out outside of Tornado Alley all the time” (03:11). Chuck reinforces this by noting that tornadoes in the southeastern U.S., often referred to as "Dixie Alley," are becoming more frequent and destructive: “There are a lot more trees, dense forest. It's not these big, wide open plains” (04:08).

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5. Historical Context and Terminology

The term "Tornado Alley" was coined in 1952 by Air Force weather casters Major Ernest J. Faubusch and Captain Robert C. Miller. Josh remarks on the timing, noting that it coincided with the commencement of tornado record-keeping in the United States: “In the United States, our records are. Our tornado activity records only date back to the 50s” (04:44). This historical perspective underscores the relatively recent scientific attention tornadoes have received.

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6. Tornado Classification and Tracking

Josh and Chuck discuss the Enhanced Fujita Scale, introduced to rate tornado intensity based on damage assessment. Chuck explains the methodology: “If you're going to count tornadoes, you're literally going to do that. You're going to have people calling in to the weather service” (05:29). They emphasize the reliance on citizen reports and meteorologist validations to classify and count tornado occurrences, highlighting the limitations in tracking long-term trends due to the relatively short recording history.

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7. Climate Change and the Future of Tornado Activity

A significant portion of the discussion centers on the potential impact of climate change on tornado patterns. Josh suggests that warming temperatures may lead to an eastward shift of Tornado Alley, coining the term "expanded tornado alleys" due to increased warm, humid air fueling tornado formation: “As the Earth warms, you're going to have more warmer, humid air” (10:03). However, Chuck raises counterpoints about the complexity of atmospheric changes, noting that climate warming could also reduce wind shear by diminishing cooler, drier air: “You'll have less wind shear, which means that, I don't know, it might be a wash” (10:27). The hosts agree that the relationship between climate change and tornado activity remains uncertain and requires further scientific investigation.

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8. Cultural References and Conclusion

Towards the end of the episode, Chuck shares a light-hearted critique of the movie Twisters, contrasting it unfavorably with the original Twister film. Despite the scientific focus, this segment adds a relatable cultural touch to the discussion about tornadoes.

Concluding the episode, Josh and Chuck reflect on the challenges in predicting and understanding tornado behavior, emphasizing the ongoing need for research and advancements in meteorology.

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Notable Quotes:

• Josh (01:29): “Tornado Alley is considered such because it has the most tornadoes of anywhere else in the United States, which means that it has more tornadoes than anywhere else in the world.”

• Chuck (02:05): “They form through instability in the atmosphere. So a lot of moist, warm air beneath that cooler, drier air. And then, something called wind shear, which is when winds are changing with height.”

• Josh (10:03): “As the Earth warms, you're going to have more warmer, humid air.”

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This episode of Short Stuff offers an insightful exploration into Tornado Alley, dissecting its geographical boundaries, the science behind tornado formation, historical context, and the potential shifts in tornado activity due to climate change. Through engaging dialogue, Josh and Chuck provide listeners with a comprehensive understanding of one of nature’s most formidable phenomena.

Transcript

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[Josh]

Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here too, sitting in for Dave. And this is stuff you should know. Short stuff.

[Chuck]

That's right. We're talking about tornadoes again on the show. We've talked plenty about tornadoes and Tornado Alley even. But we're going to talk more about it because probably since we did the last update on Tornado Alley, it seems like it might be changing a bit, right?

[Josh]

Yeah, definitely. For sure. And just even classifying tornadoes. I'm sure we talked about the changeover because it would have happened before we talked about it, but it would have been really new. So, yeah, there's a lot to dig into about Tornado Alley and tornadoes. And one of the first things to understand is that Tornado Alley is a contested area of the United States of North America, but the United States in particular, that runs essentially from Texas. Why are you laughing at me?

[Chuck]

I love to bear witness when you dig yourself into a word hole, climb back out of it.

[Josh]

Well, watch this. I'm climbing up. It starts in Texas. It goes all the way up to the Dakotas, but it also veers over. It bends and hits like Iowa, Indiana, Ohio. And the reason this is considered Tornado Alley is because it has the most tornadoes of anywhere else in the United States, which means that it has more tornadoes than anywhere else in the world. And the reason that is because it has the perfect conditions for tornadoes to develop.

[Chuck]

All right, so tornado producing conditions that you mentioned are they form through instability in the atmosphere. So a lot of moist, warm air beneath that cooler, drier air. And then, and then something called wind shear, which is when winds are changing with height, like the winds are changing and then they're changing at different height levels. And if you've got that, then you've got a pretty good recipe for a tornado. And it just so happens that those states that you mentioned have a lot of that kind of weather happening, thanks to where they are, basically.

[Josh]

Yeah. So warm, moist air comes up from the Gulf of Mexico, and cooler, drier air comes from the west, like, say the Rockies, and they converge in that area. That's Tornado Alley. And when you've got those two factors, like you said, the wind shear and the instability, supercell thunderstorms can break out, and that's what spawn tornadoes. And so anywhere you find that, where there's instability and wind shear, a tornado can break out. And they do break out outside of Tornado Alley all the time. Oh, yeah.

[Chuck]

Bad ones.

[Josh]

Yeah, for sure. And yeah, it's not even North America. There's a long standing myth that we probably talked about about whether there's tornadoes outside of North America. And there are, but it's just that there's so many more in North America. You can forgive people for thinking they're just a North American phenomenon.

[Chuck]

Yeah. And the other thing too is in the areas that you described as Tornado Alley, at least a lot of them have these big, wide open plains. And that's just kind of become the common thing you think about is a tornado that you see way far off in the distance coming at you. And that's not always the case when they happen here in the American south, which we'll get to the fact that that happens a lot more lately. There are a lot more trees, dense forest. It's not these big, wide open plains. So it's just not what you typically think of as tornado country. Even though they will rip through Georgia or Alabama or Tennessee just as well as they can anywhere else.

[Josh]

Yes. And then we should also say that Tornado Alley is a fairly recent term. It was coined in 1952 by a pair of Air Force weather casters. Major Ernest J. Faubusch.

[Chuck]

Great name.

[Josh]

Agreed. And Captain Robert C. Miller and I saw that their method of predicting tornadoes was like 95% accurate or something insane like that.

[Chuck]

Whoa.

[Josh]

But the. So the coin Tornado Alley, at about the same time the records of tracking tornadoes begin. Because in the United States, our records are. Our tornado activity records only date back to the 50s.

[Chuck]

Yeah, the 1950s. In fact, it was, I guess, just before we started the podcast in 2007 that they. And I guess I remember talking about this being sort of a new thing at the time. Like you said, the Enhanced Fujita Scale or the EF scale for rating a tornado's intensity or their damage intensity. So that hasn't even been around that long. But how it generally worked was if you're going to count tornadoes, you're literally going to do that. You're going to have people calling in to the weather service, you're going to have just regular citizens. You're going to have maybe people in the government or meteorologists weighing in. But people reporting tornadoes to the NWS is how they keep track of how many tornadoes they are.

[Josh]

Yeah. And you just know that the citizens that report tornadoes, there's only 10 of them, but they're probably responsible for like 60% of the tornado reports.

[Chuck]

Yeah, they're into it.

[Josh]

I mean, good for them. So you don't just take those 10 people's word for it, like you mark where they're saying they saw a tornado and then you send out trained meteorologists to go check afterwards, see what kind of structure was there. Exactly. Put their hand on a railroad track.

[Chuck]

Yeah.

[Josh]

And they look at the destruction and based on the level of destruction, they categorize it with that enhanced Fujita scale and that ultimately what they're after is classifying it based on presumed or estimated wind speeds, hence the destructiveness of the whole thing. And then they count it. And that's how they track tornadoes. And because it's only, it only dates back to the 50s and it's still kind of a kludgy way of tracking tornadoes, we're not very good at looking at long term trends in tornado activity. We're not there yet, so we're kind of reading tea leaves, as it were.

[Chuck]

All right, now I want to go have some tea, so let's take a break.

[Josh]

Okay.

[Chuck]

And we'll be right back.

[Josh]

Okay.

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[Josh]

Okay, Chuck, so like we said, you can have a tornado outside a tornado alley. Sorry, everybody. They just happen there with more frequency. There's also plenty of less powerful tornadoes, too, that happen in Tornado Alley. But they're also, they seem to be also popping up in the southern southeastern US with much greater frequency and much more destructiveness than it seems like there used to be. And that's actually a point of contention. Not everybody agrees with that. But there's a thought that, there's a school of thought that tornado alleys migrating eastward.

[Chuck]

Yeah. They're calling this new Tornado alley Dixie Alley. Some people are calling it that. Other people are saying, like, no, that's not even a thing. And again, these are the ones that are going maybe through a forest or something. Or in the case of Atlanta, that one year, like in the city of Atlanta, which is very scary and weird, but there's not really a tornado season like you think of in traditional tornado alley. They can pop up whenever. I think it's more likely here in the south to have a tornado in late winter to early spring. And in the Northern Plains, it's usually summertime. But all you need, and these are what the meteorologists and tornado people try to hammer home. It's like, yeah, maybe there's a tornado season, you know, quote unquote season. But, like, it's an atmospheric condition and that can happen at any time in any place really, as long as those conditions are met.

[Josh]

Right, Exactly. So like you said, some people are just like, no, that's not actually a thing. It's not really moving. The reason that a lot of people say it's moving is because of climate change. It just makes sense, right, that as the Earth warms, if you need warmer, humid air underneath colder air to create instability and wind shear, well, then as the Earth warms, you're going to have more warmer, humid air.

[Chuck]

Yeah.

[Josh]

And so, yes, ipso facto, tornadoes are going to be breaking out much worse than they were before, much greater frequency. And probably in places that, you know, you might as well say tornado alleys expanded. Right. Yeah. Other people are like, not so fast there, buster. Because, yes, there probably will be warmer, more warm, humid air, but because the Earth's warming, that also means there will probably be less cooler, drier air. Right. And so you'll have one of the ingredients, but you'll have less of the other ingredient. So you'll have less wind shear, which means that, I don't know, it might be a wash. And at the very least, we can't really predict at this point how climate change is going to affect tornadoes. So. Sit down. I think that's what the other scientists are saying.

[Chuck]

Yeah. It's kind of hard to believe after all this time that this is as far along as we are with tornadoes. And I don't know, it just seems like something that you could almost predict at a certain point.

[Josh]

Yeah. Because we've been tracking them for a while. This How Stuff Works article that we're basing this on mentions the. What's probably the very first report by a European of a tornado in what would become the United States was by Governor John Winthrop, one of the Puritans, if you remember our Puritan episode. Oh yeah, yeah. And back in 1643, he recorded a powerful wind that whipped up dust, lifted his meeting house, that's probably the big giveaway. And knocked down a tree that fell on some poor schmo who was killed by it.

[Chuck]

Geez. So he said in his logbook, tornadoes not so pure.

[Josh]

Exactly.

[Chuck]

Or very pure, depending on how you look at it, I guess.

[Josh]

Yeah. Now that you mention it, you probably saw them as God's wrath for sure. Do you have anything else?

[Chuck]

Yeah, we should mention the movie Twisters because that is a. I guess I don't know what they call them these days, but not a remake of the original Twister movie. But it has long been known that Emily, my wife, loves the movie Twister. The first one. One of her guilty indulgences. Cause otherwise she just basically likes independent film and foreign film and Twister. And that's always sort of been the joke in the family. But she was very excited to watch Twisters. We rented it the other night here at the house. The three of us watched it and Twisters gets three big old thumbs down from our home.

[Josh]

Oh, that's a shame.

[Chuck]

Just not very good, unfortunately.

[Josh]

Well, that's a tough act to follow. I mean the first, the first one was pretty great.

[Chuck]

Yeah. I mean the cast alone, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt, it was great. Carrie Elwise, really just a top notch movie and holds up. So I say don't waste your time with Twisters, okay. And I hope no one that made that movie or was in that movie listens to the show because they're all great otherwise.

[Josh]

Good for you, man. Chuck was very nice at the end there, so of course that means short stuff is out.

[Chuck]

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