the united states has the modt tornadoes on earth?
447138
The U.S. is definitely the tornado capital of the world.\n\nhttp://www.usatoday.com/weather/tg/wtorwhat/wtorwhat.htm
206008
Tornadoes Would be second for me. In an F-5's path very little is left standing or alive if not underground. All other natural disasters even Earthquakes, Hurricanes and Wildfires don't even come close to %100 total destruction in its path, wake, or epicenter. An F-5 may not be a %100 but it is closest of any of the so far mentioned ones.\n\nBut Out of all Natural Disasters I think A supervolcano Eruption May Eclipse all Experienced Natural Disasters!
189495
I know Canada gets hit by tornadoes and I'm sure some countries in Europe do also.
396017
In the US Midwest, tornadoes are usually formed when a cold, dry air mass moving south from Canada collides with a warm, moist air mass moving north from the Gulf of Mexico (or Baja California, or the Atlantic, or what have you). \nThis produces large thunderstorm clouds known as supercells, which can produce heavy rains, hail, and tornados. \nTornados are formed in areas of the supercell called mesocyclones; which draws air into the storm. When you hear meteorologists talk about the "hook echo" on the radar, they're pointing out the mesocyclone. The best simple explanation (so far) for why the tornado starts to rotate is the phenomenon of vertical wind sheer, where wind changes direction at different elevations.\nSo, if you have access to a weather radar; you can see hook echos like the one below. If you have a wind velocity view (some do, some don't), look for a large difference in wind speed and direction around that hook echo.
847338
i read in a tornado book that i bought, tornado alley in the U.S. gets the most tornadoes in the whole world.  Conditions are just right for it here.  There is nowhere else that tornadoes are common, but tornadoes can happen anywhere
579488
the united states of america.
1085318
There are a couple reasons.  First off, Texas is the second-largest state in the US, next to Alaska.  So, there is more area in the state for tornadoes to occur.\n\nSecondly, Texas is right in the heart of Tornado Alley.  This is a place in the continental US where the airflow is just right for supercell thunderstorms (tornado-causing storms) to form, with warm, moist air rolling off of the Gulf of Mexico, dry air coming from the Mojave Desert, and cool air flowing off of the Rockies.  The combination of these air masses provide a lot of atmospheric instability, prompting thunderstorms.\n\nDue to the winds around Texas/Oklahoma, the storms are more likely to be supercells, and more likely to form tornadoes.\n\nTexas might have the most number of tornadoes in a given year, but Oklahoma actually has the most tornadoes per unit area in the US because of the wind patterns being even better for tornado formation there.
731473
The US - yes.\nDon't know about the others.
1097410
No, don't think a tornado is a possibility. But if they tied themselves together and lit their farts, do you think they would take off?  :)
1144379
It happened on Mount Washington, NH -  231 mph on April 12, 1934.\nThis is the actual measured surface wind speed - tornadoes produce wind speeds this high but are not directly measured (they are approximated by doppler radar) so they do not count for this record.\n-This is a world record as well as a US record.
17464
Fort Worth got a tornado go straight through downtown a few years back.\n\nAccording to this map: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tornado_Alley.jpg\nFort Worth, Oklahoma City and Tulsa have the highest number of tornadoes observed, with a wide band across the states from Illinois to the DFW area being the "Tornado Alley"\n\nNote that hurricanes near populated areas are more likely to be observed, which accounts for the island style distribution.
47429
Go here http://www.fema.gov/hazards/tornadoes/\nand here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornadoes
261296
There has been a slight increase in the number of tornadoes BUT the tornadoes have been on average weaker. There has not been an F5 tornoado yet this century, the longest period in recorded North American weather history.\n\nOne of the reasons for the increased number of tornadoes the past few years was the increase in the number of land-falling hurricanes. Some (but not all) hurricanes can spawn dozens of tornadoes.
429312
Yes, but not to the extent that other places have them.  I've lived in New Mexico for 30 years and have only felt one earthquake -- and it was so mild that it caused no damage to anything or anybody.  We do have tornados, but I've never seen one in New Mexico.  With most of the state being at least half a mile above sea level, floods only happen in close vicinity to rivers or streams (we call them arroyos) after a heavy rain.  Smart people just stay away from them; other people drive their cars into them and die.
1102756
every place in the world has the possibility for tornadoes.  only continent that has never gotten a tornado is antarctica.
600065
Tornadoes occur on all continents of the world except Antarctica, with the Great Plains of the United States accounting for 70% of the total number.  The area known as "tornado alley" has become a haven for storm chasers and a killing field for deadly twisters.  It stretches up through the central United States through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, and other central states.
506547
You can thank the upper-air weather pattern for all the rain. I'm a storm chaser from Texas and these blocked patterns (upper ridge over the Rockies and upper trough over the Atlantic states) spell disaster for us looking for tornadoes across Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. We constantly stay dry, and you guys constantly stay wet. Until the pattern changes to a more traditional West to East flow and can kick these blocked troughs / ridges out of here, we're in for more of the same.