Annual Tornadoes in UK vs. USA?

Question

I recently read on here that the BBC reported that tornadoes are not as rare in the UK as people think. Understandable. I then read that the BBC reported that there are more tornadoes in the UK than in the USA, they just don't get reported. That can't be right. Last time I checked, the USA has over 50% of the entire world's tornadoes. Could someone please explain (1) if that report actually happened and (2) what their source was?

Just to clear up...I understand that the USA is most favorable for tornadoes...I'm studying meteorology. I just wanted to clear up if the report happened and why it was so horribly wrong.

Thanks to those who have answered so far though, appreciate it!

Answer 1

You probably misheard them.

Of course the US gets more tornadoes than the UK.

However, much of the UK is favorable for tornado development. So while they don't get as many as the US, they do get more tornadoes per unit area than the US. Also, as I found out while reading the link at the BBC website (listed in sources), they were only comparing the UK to other European nations.

Answer 2

The report is incorrect -- Apparently some journalist was trying to get some kind of reaction (involving more sales of their paper or magazine... I'm guessing some offshoot of the Daily Mirror?)

For one thing, the US is around 50 times the size of the UK, so even if the UK had the *same* number of tornadoes per land area, they would be far, far behind. (And why would you want more tornadoes, anyway?) For another thing, the UK is not extremely like to the middle of the US (known as the MidWest), where most of the US's tornadoes happen. (I grew up for a time in Nebraska and our High School, in addition to having the usual regular fire drills, had regular tornado drills. Wahoo. Getting close to an actual tornado is NOT fun.)

There was a report a few months back about unreported tornadoes along the US's west coast, too, but that report was legitimate. It seems California and Washington get their share of them, too.

And I'm sure just those two states get more than the UK ever does.

Barjesse37

Answer 3

more in the USA, it's a larger country