Tornado Alley

Heavy rains, hail, and an unheard siren.

Tornado Alley encompasses northern Texas and Louisiana, almost straight north to the southern parts of North Dakota and Minnesota. When a tornado warning is issued, that does not always indicate a tornado is on the ground, but rather that there is a high possibility whether due to strong rotation or lowering wall cloud. One fact used to issue a tornado warning is a radar signature known as a hook echo. This signature indicates what is known as a rear flank downdraft, a downward rush of air behind a storm, often associated with, and descending with, a tornado. More often than not, this indicates a touch down. In areas with a high population density, such as the Dallas-Fort Worth area, a tornado emergency is declared instead of a warning with the only difference being how many people may be affected by the tornado. Tornado Alley is often what one thinks of for deadly storms and tornadoes, but what many don't realize is our neighbor, Dixie Alley, often sees much worse action. While more tornadoes currently seem to form in Tornado Alley, the stronger, longer lived tornadoes form in Dixie Alley, and more often than not, at night.