PRESS RELEASE
V
ORTEK LLCMOST TORNADO-PRONE SPOT IN KANSAS IS NEAR BIRMINGHAM
January 10, 2008 Huntsville, Alabama
As part of an ongoing tornado research project, by means of the Site Assessment of Tornado Threat (SATT) 3.0 software, and based on National Weather Service data from 1950 through 2006, the VorTek staff have determined the most tornado-prone spot in Kansas, originally identified in May 2003, remains at latitude 39o 24’ N, longitude 95o 40’ W, which corresponds to a location 1.1 miles southeast of Birmingham, Kansas, 0.3 miles south of State Highway 16 on the north bank of North Cedar Creek. During the 57-year period noted, 78 tornado track segments have touched down or passed within 20 miles of this point. This includes twenty-four F0 tornadoes, twenty F1, nineteen F2, twelve F3, and three F4. If the total land area disturbed by these tornadoes is divided by the land area within the 20-mile circle, on an annual basis the average fraction of land disturbed (or Annual Coverage Fraction) equals 1.377 x 10-3 or 0.1377%, which is the largest value for any point within Kansas.
VorTek LLC
Huntsville, AL 35801
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