VORTEK LLC

MOST TORNADO-PRONE SPOTS IN TOP TWENTY STATES

May 26, 2004   Huntsville, AL

Over the past two months, 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 2002, the VorTek staff have identified the most tornado-prone points in a number of different states.  According to the results of this study, the most tornado-prone spots in the top twenty states are as follows:
 

LOCATION OF
TORNADO-PRONE SPOT
DISTURBED LAND
RANK
STATE
LATITUDE
LONGITUDE
 ACF (%) AREA (ACRES)
  1
 Nebraska
40o 46' N
98o 07' W
 0.2036 1637
  2
 Georgia
34o 19' N
84o 39' W
 0.1940 1560
  3
 Oklahoma
35o 34' N
96o 31' W
 0.1800 1448
  4
 Kansas
39o 24' N
95o 40' W
 0.1477 1188
  5
 Mississippi
31o 58' N
89o 28' W
 0.1397 1124
  6
 Tennessee
35o 14' N
87o 28' W
 0.1382 1111
  7
 Alabama
34o 48' N
86o 41' W
 0.1349 1085
  8
 Iowa
42o 15' N
91o 24' W
 0.1333 1072
  9
 North Carolina
34o 46' N
79o 10' W
 0.1237 995
10
 Arkansas
34o 48' N
92o 14' W
 0.1207 971
11
 Pennsylvania
41o 12' N
77o 43' W
 0.1164 936
12
 Illinois
40o 32' N
90o 07' W
 0.1111 894
13
 Wisconsin
45o 44' N
89o 44' W
 0.1076 865
14
 Indiana
40o 14' N
86o 24' W
 0.1033 831
15
 Texas
35o 21' N
100o 10' W
 0.09801 788
16
 Louisiana
32o 30' N
93o 32' W
 0.09751 784
17
 Michigan
41o 57' N
84o 22' W
 0.09201 740
18
 Minnesota
44o 17' N
94o 12' W
 0.08348 671
19
 Missouri
39o 44' N
92o 30' W
 0.08051 647
20
 Ohio
41o 42' N
84o 39' W
 0.07942 639

The Annual Coverage Fraction or "ACF" represents the average fraction of land area within a 20-mile radius of the tornado-prone spot annually disturbed by tornadoes for the 53-year period from 1950 through 2002. The disturbed land area represents the average number of acres of land within a 20-mile radius of the tornado prone spot annually disturbed by tornadoes for the same 53-year period.

*Now the latest version of the Site Assessment of Tornado Threat software (SATT 3.0) is available for purchase at http://www.tornadothreat.com.