PRESS RELEASE

MISSISSIPPI RANKS #1 AMONG THE TWENTY

MOST TORNADO-PRONE U.S. STATES 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 states for the month of February. The rankings, based on National Weather Service data from 1950 through 2007, are as follows:

Rank

State

ACF (%)

Disturbed Land Area (Acres) 

1

Mississippi

.007347

2219

2

Arkansas

.003046

1016

3

Alabama

.001952

635

4

Louisiana

.001872

533

5

Tennessee

.001824

481

6

Georgia

.001267

471

7

Florida

.001148

398

8

North Carolina

.001075

336

9

Illinois

.000804

286

10

Oklahoma

.000687

302

11

Indiana

.000587

135

12

Kansas

.000398

209

13

Missouri

.000359

158

14

Texas

 .000287

482

15

Ohio

.000155

41

16

South Carolina

 .000115

22

17

Idaho

.000111

58

18

Virginia

.000055

14

19

Kentucky

.000027

7

20

Pennsylvania 

.000022

6

 

The Annual Coverage Fraction (ACF) represents the average fraction of land area within the boundaries of the state 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 the boundaries of the state disturbed by tornadoes during February for the same 58-year period.
 
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