Hello, Arkansas (And Tennessee And Kentucky And Mississippi)! Welcome To The New Tornado Alley!!
In the 30 days after several damaging twisters hit Arkansas on March 14, the state saw nearly four times as many tornado warnings as Texas did. The National Weather Service issued 144 warnings in Arkansas, compared to 39 in Texas from March 14 to April 14. Mississippi also recorded 144 warnings over the same period and Tennessee saw 125 warnings. Alabama noted 57 warnings.
It’s an indication that the classic “Tornado Alley” region — the area from central Texas through Oklahoma and Kansas, so named because of the number of tornadoes there — is shifting eastward. The shift is attributed to climate change, the warming of the Gulf of Mexico’s waters and a dip in the cold jet stream pattern.
Arkansas, scientists say, is nearly in the bull’s eye of a new tornado-prone area that’s referred to as “Dixie Alley.” The region, which has seen a vast increase in tornadoes over the past several years, also encompasses Mississippi, Alabama and western Tennessee. Weather Service survey teams have already confirmed 35 tornadoes have touched down in Arkansas through April. The state averages 42 twisters per year.
The storms have also been larger. Arkansas was hit with two EF-4 twisters on March 14 — one in Jackson County and one in Izard County. The last time a tornado of that strength hit the state was on April 27, 2014, when a tornado cut a 41-mile path of destruction through western Pulaski County, Mayflower and Vilonia in Faulkner County, and on into White County. Sixteen people died in that storm.
EDIT
https://kentuckylantern.com/2025/05/19/traditional-tornado-alley-shifts-eastward-as-climate-changes-says-meteorologist-studying-trend/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Yeah, something tells me they already know about it.
