I Was Looking At Questions And See Most People Say One Of The Best Places To Avoid Tornados Is Canada..?

Question

I Don't Think This Is True,
Seeing As We Have Tornado's
Especially The Prarie Provinces.
Manitoba Has A Minimum Of About 7 Each Summer.

Answer 1

There is almost nowhere you can go to avoid tornadoes. However, regions where there are fewer thunderstorms will obviously have fewer tornadoes. In North America, northern areas such as Canada will have fewer. Also, anywhere west of the Rocky Mountains are a good place to go. Here are a couple of maps of number of tornadoes per year in the United States:

http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/tornado.html

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wtornavg.htm

Answer 2

Texan, I think there's something wrong with both of those graphics.

If you look here:

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/torn/monthlytornstats.html

you'll see that the 3 year average for tornadoes in the USA is 1488. I think they are supposed to say "F2 or greater" tornadoes.

I did some quick math. Rand McNally says there are 3.5 million square miles in the USA. Subtract out AK, and the other 49 states have less than 3 mil. Let's say only half the USA gets tornadoes, essentially. Okay, now there are ~1500 tornadoes per year over 1.5 million sq miles. Now the math is easy. That's 10 tornadoes per 10,000 sq miles. See the problem with the graphics?

That's why I say those graphics are supposed to say "F2 or greater". The SPC stats are for all tornadoes.

Now, the answer to the question: Canada is pretty safe for avoiding tornadoes. Yes, there are regions of Canada that get some, but not like in The Alley. The Maritime Provinces and the areas from the Rocky Mountains westward really don't get any tornadoes to speak of. After all, 7 (for Manitoba) is nothing much if you consider that some outbreaks in The Alley produce 40 or 50 in one evening.

*edit* I've decided to add some more trivia. *xx, if you're afraid of tornadoes, let's look at some more statistics.

Suppose you lived in an area in Tornado Alley with moderately-high risk. Not west-central Oklahoma, but let's say where there are an average of 5 "F2's-or-greater" per year per 10K square miles.

How many square miles of that 10K area sustain damage from those 5 tornadoes in one year?

The average tornado is, oh, probably 100 yards wide, and stays on the ground for less than a mile. That means 5 of them do damage in an area of 500 yards by, let's say, a mile. 500 yards is less than a third of a mile, but let's call it a third. So in 10k sq miles, only .333 sq miles sustained damage. Therefore, statistically, it would be 30,000 years before that whole 10,000 square mile area could expect to be hit by an F2+ tornado.

Ergo, if you lived there, you could expect you house to be hit once every 30,000 years. (statistically)

Feel better?

Answer 3

I've read that the Eastern Maritimes of Canada have had several tornadoes this summer-destructive ones, too.

Answer 4

There were six in Ontario, Canada last week!! All F1's , but destructive non the less.

Answer 5

yes, canada has nothing, not even destructive weather

Answer 6

Hmmm... 7... hmmm... I think we get that many in ONE storm here in Texas!