VORTEK LLC

OKLAHOMA REMAINS THE MOST TORNADO-PRONE STATE DURING MAY

April 29, 2009

As part of an ongoing company-funded research study of tornadic risk assessment, by means of the Site Assessment of Tornado Threat (SATT) software*, VorTek has determined the rankings of the top twenty tornado-prone states for the month of May. The rankings, based on National Weather Service data from 1950 through 2007, are as follows:
 

Rank

State

ACF (%)

Disturbed Land Area (Acres) 

1

Oklahoma

0.01722

7571

2

Kansas

0.01639

8581

3

Nebraska

0.01563

7661

4

Pennsylvania

0.01041

2999

5

Iowa

0.00922

3304

6

Arkansas

0.00594

1982

7

Illinois

0.00581

2069

8

Alabama

0.00580

1886

9

South Dakota

0.00452

2200

10

Missouri

0.00391

1723

11

Ohio

0.00361

  946

12

Kentucky

0.00358

909

13

Texas

0.00335

5621

14

Wisconsin

 0.00325

1132

15

Indiana

0.00300

689

16

Mississippi

 0.00272

  821

17

Tennessee

0.00257

  678

18

South Carolina

0.00230

  445

19

North Carolina

0.00230

  718

20

Louisiana

0.00213

  608

 

The ACF "Annual Coverage Fraction" represents the average fraction of land area within the boundaries of the state disturbed by tornadoes during May for the 58-year period from 1950 through 2007. The "disturbed land area" represents the average number of acres of land within the boundaries of the state disturbed by tornadoes during May for the same 58-year period.