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A new 'Tornado Alley' is forming, and Kentucky may be in its path

(Source:  ready.gov)

Kentucky is slowly becoming part of a new "Tornado Alley" in America.

A study shows that in the last 40 years, tornadoes have increased in the Midwest and the Southeast, which has been named "Dixie Alley." That includes Kentucky and Indiana, as well as portions of Tennessee, Illinois, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Missouri. 

"A lot of people are very familiar with Tornado Alley," said Tom Reaugh, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Louisville. "But not too many people are familiar with Dixie Alley and the potential hazards that area could face with tornadoes." 

The study, published Wednesday in the Nature partner journal Climate and Atmospheric Science, says tornado events costing $10 billion "are no longer uncommon."

"Severe thunderstorms accompanied by tornadoes, hail and damaging winds cause an average of $5.4 billion of damage each year across the United States, and 10 billion-dollar events are no longer uncommon," the study said.

In particular, the mid-South — with Memphis at its center — has "the greatest potential for increased tornado disasters by the end of the century," the study said.

About 1,200 tornadoes hit the U.S. yearly, the National Severe Storms Laboratory said. Last year, in Southern Indiana and Central Kentucky, the National Weather Service documented 25 tornadoes.

Tornadoes in the Southeast also tend to be deadlier than those in the Plains, due to several factors such as longer, larger tornado paths, expanding population, more mobile homes, and more nighttime tornadoes, according to USA TODAY.

On average, 10 people die from tornadoes each year combined in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, three states that make up most of Tornado Alley, according to USA TODAY. Nationwide, about 73 Americans are killed each year by tornadoes, based on data from 1985-2014.

Kentucky is no stranger to these disasters. 

There have been 62 killer tornadoes resulting in 417 fatalities in Kentucky since record-keeping started in 1830, according to the National Weather Service. 

In 1974, an F4-strength tornado hit Louisville, killing two people and hurting 200 others. It was one of 148 deadly tornadoes across the Midwest on April 3 of that year. Twenty were in Indiana and 26 in Kentucky.

In March 2012, the National Weather Service estimated that 10 or more tornadoes touched down, flattening communities from Henryville, Indiana, to West Liberty, Kentucky. The storms killed 34 people and injured hundreds more. 

This past June, a tornado touched down at Westport Woods Apartments, about a mile east of I-265 just north of Westport Road. It was an EF-1 tornado, which means wind speeds were between 86 and 90 miles per hour.

 

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Date: 10-18-2018

 

By Thomas Novelly
Louisville Courier Journal

Kentucky Press News Service

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