PRESS RELEASE

ST. LOUIS RANKS #1 AMONG TOP TWENTY

MOST TORNADO-PRONE U.S. CITIES DURING FEBRUARY

February 2, 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 cities for the month of February. It is especially noteworthy that seven Florida cities ranked in the top twenty for February. Lake County, Florida is situated 30 miles northwest of one of the cities (Orlando) and 70 miles northeast of another (Tampa). The rankings, based on National Weather Service data from 1950 through 2007, are as follows:

Rank

State

ACF (%)

Disturbed Land Area (Acres) 

1

St. Louis, MO

.001264

102

2

Pasadena, TX

.001243

100

3

Shreveport, LA

.01009

81

4

Orlando, FL

.00972

78

5

Nashville, TN

.00918

74

6

Houston, TX

.00680

55

7

Atlanta, GA

.00645

52

8

Little Rock, AR

.00543

44

9

Jackson, MS

.00538

43

10

Hollywood, FL

.00430

35

11

Pembroke Pines, FL

.00429

34

12

Lafayette, LA

.00417

34

13

Hialeah, FL

.00363

29

14

Montgomery, AL

 .00340

27

15

Miami, FL

.00310

25

16

Tampa, FL

 .00309

25

17

Knoxville, TN

.00295

24

18

Memphis, TN

.00291

23

19

Coral Springs, FL

.00272

22

20

Oklahoma City, OK

.00247

20

 

The Annual Coverage Fraction (ACF) represents the average fraction of land area within a 20-mile radius of the city disturbed by tornadoes during February for the 58-year period from 1950 through 2007. The "Disturbed Land Area" represents the average number of acres of land within a 20-mile radius of the city disturbed by tornadoes during February for the same 58-year period.
 
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