THE UNITED STATES HAS THE MOST EXTREME WEATHER: Part 1

The United States usually gets 80-90% of the world tornadoes (Spanish for thunderstorms) with 1000 tornadoes a year.  #2 is Canada, with 100.  Here is a world map where twisters occur

Antarctica is the only continent never to have experienced twisters.  A bit surprising, then, that a cold country like Canada gets so many, for these storms never occur during the winter.  While most of these funnel clouds only impact the ground for five miles, a 1925 version had a path of 219 miles.  The 2004 tornado of Hallam, Nebraska was 2.5 miles wide at the ground.  Tornado alley's

season begins in the Spring and extends into the Fall, somewhat similar to the East Pacific hurricane period.

A 1984 tornado in Bangladesh killed 1300, with #2 being a 1969 Pakistan tornado with 923 deaths.  You would think with more people and no real defense, there would be more deaths in the U.S. from recent twisters.  However #3 on this list is Tri-State in 1925 with 695 killed and way down the list is an 1840 tornado with 317 deaths.  Finally at #26 is that 2011 monster of Joplin, Missouri, killing 162.

There was once a Fujita Scale from F0 (40-72 MPH) to F6 (319-379 MPH).  The Enhanced Fujita Scale was adopted in 2007, beginning with EF0 (65-85 MPH) to EF5 (greater than 200 MPH).  EF4's and 5's are very rare, at only 1%:

However, they do the most damage, 67%:

Who is Fujita?  Tetsuya Theodore "Ted" Fujita was born in Japan in 1920 and could have been killed if the Atomic Bomb that exploded over Nagasaki was dropped over Kokuro (it was cloudy so the bomber took the second option), where he lived.  After gaining a PhD from the University of Tokyo in 1953 he joined the meteorology department at the University of Chicago, and did his work on tornadoes essentially there until his death in 1998.  The movie Twister of tornado chasers used his device.

So we come to the now EF-5 tornado that struck a suburb of Oklahoma City, Moore, and how it rates with other historic twisters.  The path is not that wide.  The vital statistics:

  -  max winds of 210 MPH
  -  24 dead
  -  damage:  more than $2 billion
  -  homes affected:  12,000
  -  length of path:  17 miles
  -  width at peak:  1.3 miles
  -  life on ground:  50 minutes

No doubt a catastrophic storm, but not close being in the top 50 of tornado events.

The United States also holds the record for a wide range of weather conditions such as snowfall, rainfall rate and hottest temperature.  This posting continues tomorrow.

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