US Meteorologist Issues Warning for Tornado 'Threat Area' Expansion

Tornadoes are one of the many deadliest severe weather phenomena that have a high risk of causing infrastructural damage and casualties.

In the US, tornado outbreaks are common in the Midwest and the Southeast regions. However, the threat area of these tornadoes is likely to expand due to climate change.

A long-term tornado warning forecast by a US meteorologist indicated that there is the probability of a tornado "threat area" expansion across the country.

The weather forecast attributed that climate may have contributed to the increased occurrence of severe weather-even in cities.

Over several decades, tornadoes have wreaked havoc in the US, wherein several of the most catastrophic events were recorded in some US cities within two years.

Due to this, the forecast shedded light on the possibility that similar incidents are likely to happen again in the coming years.

Tornado Threat Area Expansion

According to the US meteorologist Paul Pastelok, a lead long-range forecaster at AccuWeather, there are evident weather patterns and climate warnings for the increasing severity, duration, and coverage of tornado outbreaks in the country.

Pastelok emphasized that climate change and global warming may fuel the spread of tornado threat areas in the US.

Furthermore, the warming of climate can also prolong the US tornado season, which usually spans between March, April, and May.

The AccuWeather forecaster also provided safety measures to practice when a twister hits a house, especially for people residing in higher grounds.

Pastelok said one must take tornado warnings seriously, as well as provide a space for an interior room on lower levels and stay away from windows.

What is a Tornado?

A tornado, often called a twister, whirlwind, or windstorm, is a destructive and violent circulating vortex of funnel-shaped air. This severe weather event can occur not only in the US but also in other parts of the world.

In the US, it can happen at any given time of the year but they are more common in spring.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), approximately 1,200 tornadoes hit the US each year based on modern tornado records since the 1950s.

Similar to storms, the NOAA is responsible for issuing either a tornado watch, tornado alert, or tornado warning during a thunderstorm.

Tornado watches pose the lowest risk and tornado warnings manifest the highest risk from a potential or ongoing tornado.

With regards to tornado threat areas mentioned by Pastelok, the NOAA - NSSL also calls this term a "Tornado Alley" after being coined by the media to depict the high occurrence of tornadoes in a particular location in the Central US.

Severe Tornado Outbreaks

For the past two years, there have been multiple cases of severe tornado outbreaks in the US.

One of these incidents is the tornado outbreak in Iowa on March 5 when a series of twisters killed seven people near Des Moines, as per CNN.

The incident is considered to be the worst tornado event in the state.

In December 2021, a tornado in the city of Mayfield in Graves County, Kentucky, destroyed a total of approximately 1,300 establishments, including houses, commercial buildings, and places of worship.

The Mayfield KY tornado also killed 76 people in the city, as per WDRB local news.

Moreover, a similar whirlwind outbreak in the city of Nashville, Tennessee, in March 2020 killed 25 people when 10 twisters, ranging between EF0 and EF4 under the Enhanced Fujita scale (EF scale), occurred during the late-night hours.