How come a tornado never hits a major city?

Question

You always see tornadoes hitting the country so I was just wondering why dont tornadoes hit like Detroit, Chicago, Indy, etc.... all your major cities in states where tornadoes hit. Is it because of the tall buildings messing with the air or what?

I know they will hit a major city but you never see some gigantic tornado plowing through Detroit or anything and bringing down the GM building.

Answer 1

Actually, they occasionally do. Fort Worth got hit a number of years ago. Theres pictures in the link below.

Answer 2

Tornadoes do hit major cities but it's the odds of where a tornado forms and what path it takes that keeps it from hitting most major cities. It's the same joke about Hollywood movies, what are the odds of an asteroid hitting NYC or LA when 2/3 of the earth is water and 90% of the rest is covered by land without major cities on it and yet, every single movie has a major city getting totally destroyed.

With that being said, some major cities can impede tornado formation by blocking or slowing down the movement of wind with skyscrapers but it's not guaranteed. The founders of the cities most certainly did not build cities where there aren't major tornado paths. Consider this: people didn't start predicting tornadoes until the 50's and before that time, tornadoes were blamed for everything including cooking potatoes in the ground. Trying to figure out where tornadoes go was impossible back then.

Oklahoma City may not be considered a major city by many standards, but it's the largest city in Oklahoma (30th in the country) with over 500,000 people as of the 2000 census and it's been hit several times with tornadoes. Oklahoma City was where tornadoes were first predicted as two tornadoes hit Tinker Air Force Base a week or so apart and weather forecasters saw patterns in the weather that allowed them to predict the tornado.

Answer 3

Uh, they do. Tornadoes have hit Salt Lake City, Miami, and New York (though I believe that one was categorized as a strong microburst--no official tornado was reported).

It's simply that the probability is lower because there's a lot more wide-open country than there are major cities.

The below link is a (likely partial) list of tornadoes to hit major cities.

Answer 4

There was a tornado in August of 2007. It hit Brooklyn (Kings County) and Staten Island (Richmond County) in New York City. Even though most people refer to Manhatten as New York City, Brooklyn and Staten Island are part of New York City. So this is one tornado to hit a major city.

Answer 5

They do. Recall the most powerful tornado ever measured that struck the Oklahoma City/Moore area on May 3, 1999. Oklahoma City has been struck more than any other city in the United States (it does cover a rather large amount of area).

Answer 6

They can and have hit big cites but there is a lot more country than cities in the great plains.

And while we are at ever notice that they seem to be attached to trailer parks?

Just like the news people tend to go for the high school drop out to interview rather than the doctor or lawyer after one strikes.

Answer 7

They can and they do hit major cities. xooxcable is correct, a F2 tornado did hit downtown Fort Worth in 2000.

Answer 8

Well you question is not true for the most of it like for example a weak tornado hit miami the point is it can happen but we do not know when detroit is getting ready for a big one again they do not know when but "better safe than sorry"

Answer 9

They can and do. Just waiting for a major EF-5 tornado to hit aa major city. it will happen some day. It is just a myth that they don't hit big cities but they do.

Answer 10

They have in Fl and Chicago, but they tend to happen in open land areas. Which is most of the central US. Thats why it seems they do not hit major cities