Why are some parts of the world more prone to tornadoes than others?

Question

What is the weather pattern / conditions that makes (for example) parts of the US experience regular tornado activity as compared to, say Australia, which predominantly experiences hurricanes

Hi Yuischa - but what about the kilometers of wide open space in Australia, totally remote areas void of cities? We do experience a watered down version of tronadoes (willy-willy), but nothing like what the US gets in tornado alley

Anyone? Anyone??

Answer 1

The US makes up for about 75% of all tornadoes in the world. This is mostly because of the unique geologic set up of our country. The great plains/midwest are a great breeding ground for tornadoes because of the warm air from the gulf and the cooler air from canada collide. The different airs collide and causes the warmer air to rise and become unstable. That is why some of the midwest is called Tornado Alley.

Answer 2

The Midwest, especially tornado alley is very prone to getting a Tornado because of the Warm Gulf moisture and cold Artic air coming down from Canada meeting together. When the air from The Gulf of Mexico and Artic air meet it creates a very unstable environment creating severe thunderstorms and sometimes a Tornado. This can also happen from just hot humid days meeting with the colder air at night. Some parts of the world are more prone to getting a Tornado because it's an area where warm moist air is meeting with colder air creating that right conditions.

Answer 3

Australia does get tornados, mainly near Tamworth, going north up in to Queensland, but also down south, it's just that Australia is so relatively uninhabited that they rarely do any damage. (they also seem to touch ground for less time than in places like the US)

A willy willy is different to a tornado, in that it's not associated with a storm, but like a tornado, is caused by 2 pockets of air at different pressures & temperature, and as they try to equalise they form a spout, like when you pull a plug from the sink.
Australia is large and flat, which makes for less radical variations in pressure. The oceans around the US have a lot of warm currents meeting cold currents, which also encourages larger dynamics in pressure, as well as more varied geography.

It's a lot of different factors, but we definitely still get them.

By the way... hurricanes are just cyclones in the northern hemisphere, and have nothing to do with tornados.

Answer 4

ok this is how it works cold and warm air meet and converge in a swirling pattern.

the reason that tronado alley in the us is so prodominate for tornados is the cold air from the rockies sweep down across the area and meets the warmer air coming up form the gulf of mexico etc hence the tornados form.

the aussie part, really the conditions just are not cold enough for the air to form tonados- although there is the occarsional twister ie sydney last year had a min twister but really the conditions just do not adhear to making twisters the size of the ones in the us.

outback has no chance because there are no snow capped peaks- does that clarify??

if not ask me again and i will see what i can do...

Answer 5

In the U.S., we have a flat wide open space with nothing to stop winds between the Rockies and Appalachia. The cold air from Canada and the warmer air from the south can converge and twist around each other freely. There are other factors to be considered. I don't believe you experience cold fronts to such a degree as we do, which is usually when tornadoes occur. They develop in warm, moist, unstable air, usually in spring and early summer around mid afternoon.

Answer 6

The Cold air from Canada and warm air from the Gulf of Mexico combine to create havoc with the Midwest during spring. However there is an added ingredient that really sets the US apart from other countries and that is the dry air from the West which enlivens supercell thunderstorms. Many tornadic thunderstorms form along what is called a "dryline" which is created when warm Gulf of Mexico air meets dry desert air from the west.

From wiki...
A dry line, dew point line, or Marfa front[1] is a boundary separating moist and dry air masses, and an important factor in severe weather frequency in the Great Plains of North America. It typically lies north-south across the central and southern High Plains states during the spring and early summer, where it separates moist air from the Gulf of Mexico (to the east) and dry desert air from the southwestern states (to the west).

Answer 7

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Answer 8

It is not so much about the geography, but that we have the right amounts of warm, cool, moist, and dry air combining causing tornadoes and severe weather.

Answer 9

There is a 7th refractory level as you go down layer by layer to the inside of the earth. According to Rosicrucian texts it plays a part in delivering conditions to the outside that most appropriately answer that...................what has transpired on the outside is an over simplification.

Answer 10

global warming that will stuff up just about any planet/country lukily enough us australians we dont really experience yet as much as you guys in the us have but the world is a strange place who knows it was snowing in the next state over the other month and were in our last month of summer were is the one next to that was having bush fires and floods bloody weird???