PRESS RELEASE

LITTLE ROCK RANKS #1 IN PROBABILITY OF TORNADIC OCCURRENCE AMONG THE TWENTY MOST TORNADO-PRONE CITIES DURING MARCH

February 25, 2009   Huntsville, AL

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 March. The rankings, based on National Weather Service data from 1950 through 2007, are as follows:
 

RANK

CITY

ACF (%)

DISTURBED LAND AREA (ACRES)

1

Little Rock, AR

0.0250

201

2

Atlanta, GA

0.0227

182

3

Indianapolis, IN

0.0188

152

4

Birmingham, AL

0.0178

143

5

Macon, GA

0.0171

138

6

Jackson, MS

0.0138

111

7

Shreveport, LA

0.0119

96

8

Montgomery, AL

0.0103

  83

9

Columbus, GA

0.0092

  74

10

Chattanooga, TN

0.0084

  68

11

Topeka, KS

0.0075

  60

12

Huntsville, AL

0.0073

  59

13

Philadelphia, PA

0.0072

  58

14

Madison, WI

0.0066

  53

15

McAllen, TX

0.0060

  48

16

Mesquite, TX

0.0055

  44

17

Springfield, IL

0.0053

  42

18

Pembroke Pines, FL

0.0051

  41

19

Hollywood, FL

0.0050

  40

20

Coral Springs, FL

0.0045

  36

 

The Annual Coverage Fraction (ACF) represents the average fraction of land area within a 20-mile radius of the city disturbed by tornadoes during March 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 March for the same 58-year period.

VorTek LLC

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Huntsville, AL 35801

256-533-9371

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