Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that answer the question.
Query: What states are included in Tornado Alley?
The term was first used in 1952 as the title of a research project to study severe weather in areas of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, and Minnesota. It is largely a media-driven term although tornado climatologists distinguish peaks in activity in certain areas and storm chasers have long recognized the Great Plains tornado belt.
U.S. Route 61 (US 61) is the official designation for a major United States highway which extends between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River, and is designated the Great River Road for much of its route. As of 2004, the highway's northern terminus in Wyoming, Minnesota, is at an intersection with Interstate 35 (I-35). Until 1991, the highway extended north on what is now Minnesota State Highway 61 (MN 61) through Duluth and across the Canada–U.S. border, near Grand Portage. Its southern terminus in New Orleans, Louisiana, is at an intersection with Tulane Avenue at South Broad Street. The highway is often called the Blues Highway because it connects Saint Paul, Minnesota; St. Louis, Missouri; Memphis, Tennessee; the Mississippi Delta, and New Orleans.
The Climate of Beaumont, Texas covers the averages and extremes in past weather seen within the city of Beaumont, Texas. The city is within the humid subtropical climate regime, and is within the Piney Woods region of eastern Texas. The area around Beaumont receives the most rainfall in the state: more than annually. Summers in the area are usually hot and humid, due to the moisture that flows inland off of the Gulf of Mexico. Winters are usually kept mild by the warm gulf waters. Hurricanes also pose a threat to the area. Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Hurricane Rita in 2005, and Hurricane Ike in 2008 were the most recent significant storms to strike.
161 people were killed and at least 990 injured when an EF5 multiple-vortex tornado hit Joplin, Missouri. Because Joplin is located in a tornado-heavy area of the country, many people considered the tornado sirens routine and ignored them. Instead, many residents waited until they received confirmation from another, non-routine, source, such as seeing the tornado, a radio or TV report, or hearing a second siren. In the aftermath, an assessment team recommended that emergency warnings take risk perception into account to convey a sense of urgency. NOAA Officials are considering ways to change the warning system to distinguish smaller tornadoes from more deadly ones.
Six governments have jurisdictional boundaries at the Four Corners Monument: the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, as well as the tribal governments of the Navajo Nation and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. The Four Corners Monument itself is administered by the Navajo Nation Department of Parks and Recreation. Other tribal nations within the Four Corners region include the Hopi and other Ute. The Four Corners is home to the capital of the Navajo tribal government at Window Rock, Arizona. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribal headquarters are located at Towaoc, Colorado.
About two-thirds of Florida occupies a peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Florida has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States, approximately , not including the contribution of the many barrier islands. Florida has a total of 4,510 islands that are ten acres or larger in area. This is the second-highest number of islands of any state of the United States; only Alaska has more. It is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the state is at or near sea level and is characterized by sedimentary soil. Florida has the lowest high point of any U.S. state. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south. The American alligator, American crocodile, American flamingo, Roseate spoonbill, Florida panther, bottlenose dolphin, and manatee can be found in Everglades National Park in the southern part of the state. Along with Hawaii, Florida is one of only two states that has a tropical climate, and is the only continental state with either a tropical climate or a coral reef. The Florida Reef is the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States, and the third-largest coral barrier reef system in the world (after the Great Barrier Reef and Belize Barrier Reef).
Overall, the tornado killed 158 people (with an additional three indirect deaths), injured some 1,150 others, and caused damages amounting to a total of $2.8 billion. It was the deadliest tornado to strike the United States since the 1947 Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes, and the seventh-deadliest overall.
The tornado initially touched down just east of the Missouri-Kansas state line near the end of 32nd Street at 5:34 pm CDT (22:34 UTC) and tracked due east, downing a few trees at EF0 intensity. Eyewitnesses and storm chasers reported multiple vortices rotating around the parent circulation in that area. Civil defense sirens sounded in Joplin 20 minutes before the tornado struck in response to a tornado warning issued by the National Weather Service, but many Joplin residents didn't heed them. The tornado strengthened to EF1 intensity as it continued through rural areas towards Joplin, snapping trees and power poles and damaging outbuildings. Widening, the tornado then tracked into the more densely populated southwest corner of the city near the Twin Hills Country Club. It heavily damaged several homes at a subdivision in this area at EF1 to EF2 strength. The tornado continued to strengthen as it ripped through another subdivision just east of Iron Gates Rd. Numerous homes were destroyed at EF2 to EF3 strength at that location, and multiple vehicles were tossed around, some of which were thrown on or rolled into homes.
The now massive wedge tornado then crossed S. Schifferdecker Ave., producing its first area of EF4 damage as several small but well-built commercial buildings were flattened. Consistent EF4 to EF5 damage was noted east of S Schifferdecker Ave and continued through most of southern Joplin. Numerous homes, businesses, and medical buildings were flattened in this area, with concrete walls collapsed and crushed into the foundations. A large steel-reinforced step and floor structure leading to a completely destroyed medical building was "deflected upward several inches and cracked". Steel trusses from some of the buildings were "rolled up like paper", and deformation/twisting of the main support beams was noted. Multiple vehicles were thrown and mangled or wrapped around trees nearby. Several 300-pound concrete parking stops anchored with rebar were torn from a parking lot in this area and were thrown up to 60 yards away. Iowa State University wind engineer Parka Sarkar was able to calculate the force needed to remove the parking stops and found that winds exceeding 200 mph were needed to tear them from the parking lot.
The southernmost part of the state falls just within the tropical climate classification. Occasional years of above average temperatures result in an abundance of tropical flora in the lower Rio Grande Valley, typical of a Tropical savanna climate.
The city can be classified as a hot semiarid climate (Köppen: "BSh") similar to that found in southwest Texas and northwest Mexico. Donna, according to the climate map and the data used can be considered the easternmost city with a semi-arid climate in the eastern United States, not far from a humid subtropical climate due to the greater proximity of the coast, which probably limits the group B of Köppen further east of the state.
Three people were killed and 133 reported injured. One of the fatalities was thrown by the tornado from her home to a backyard four or five houses away. Debris was found miles away. Over 4,000 buildings were damaged and 287 were destroyed. In terms of damage, it was the costliest tornado in American history to that date, with damages costing at least $250 million to $300 million (around $1.7 billion in 2015 dollars), and insurance costs estimated at up to $1.1 billion (in 1975). It was the third-costliest tornado, behind the Oklahoma City-area F5 tornado on May 3, 1999, and the Wichita Falls, Texas, tornadoes on April 10, 1979, until the Joplin, Missouri EF5 tornado on May 22, 2011. It is now currently the seventh-costliest tornado on record.
36 people died in this tornado, and over 8,000 homes were badly damaged or destroyed. The tornado caused $1 billion in damage, making it the second-costliest tornado in U.S. history, and the most costly in history from 1999 to 2011, at which point it was surpassed by the 2011 Tuscaloosa–Birmingham tornado and again by the 2011 Joplin tornado. It was also the deadliest tornado to hit the U.S. since the April 10, 1979 F4 tornado that hit Wichita Falls, Texas, which killed 42 people.
SR 90 begins in northern Campbell County at an intersection with U.S. Route 25W (US 25W) in the community of Morley, north of LaFollette and southeast of Jellico. The route then twists and turns through the Cumberland Mountains of northern Tennessee, climbing through a series of switchback curves to the top of Hickory Hill, where it passes through White Oak. After descending from this ridge to Tackett Creek, the highway veers northeastward into the Clearfork Valley, where it traverses the communities of Eagan and Clairfield. It comes to an end at Kentucky Route 74 at the Kentucky state line in the old mining community of Pruden. KY 74 continues eastward through rugged mountain terrain to Middlesboro, Kentucky.
There are three main climates in the state. The lowlands are hot with temperatures rising as high as 44C in the summer in places such as the municipality of Pisaflores. Temperate regions can have hot days but often the temperature is moderated by cooler winds and clouds. Cold climates dominate the highest altitudes where freezing temperatures at night are not uncommon. Rainfall varies widely from as low as 250mm per year to as high as 2,800mm per year. The main indicator of climate type is altitude.
Caraga Region is one of the regions notably located in the eastern seaboard of the Philippines. With its geographic location facing the Pacific Ocean and famous Philippine Trench, the Region is prone to various weather conditions and geologic phenomenon like, but not limited to, typhoon, tsunami and other coastal surges and seismic activities. With these, DENR-MGB13 is expeditiously utilizing its human and financial resources to generate geohazard maps as necessary source of information to spatial planners and other government and non-government agencies working for public safety and disaster management.
Tennessee's major industries include agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. Poultry, soybeans, and cattle are the state's primary agricultural products, and major manufacturing exports include chemicals, transportation equipment, and electrical equipment. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the nation's most visited national park, is headquartered in the eastern part of the state, and a section of the Appalachian Trail roughly follows the Tennessee-North Carolina border. Other major tourist attractions include the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga; Dollywood in Pigeon Forge; Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies and Ober Gatlinburg in Gatlinburg; the Parthenon, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and Ryman Auditorium in Nashville; the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg; Elvis Presley's Graceland residence and tomb, the Memphis Zoo, the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis; and Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol.
Rhineland is located within the physiographic region known as the Texas Rolling Plains approximately south of the Brazos River at the intersection of farm-to-market roads 267 and 2534 in southeastern Knox County. It is situated to the southeast of the county seat of Benjamin, north of Munday and north of Abilene.
The highest temperature ever measured in Texas was , recorded on August 12, 1936 in Seymour, during the 1936 North American Heatwave, and again on June 28, 1994 in Monahans. The lowest temperature ever measured in Texas was , recorded on February 8, 1933 in Seminole.
The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle is a huge impact on the weather in Texas. During the El Niño phase, the jet stream is located west-to-east across the southern portion of the United States. Therefore, winters in Texas are colder and receive more snowfall than normal. Texas is also less likely to get impacted by hurricanes due to the increased wind shear across the Atlantic. Spring to early summer yields increased rainfall especially where a low pressure system is located over the Four Corners region or northern Mexico which yields monsoon-like climate (which was exacerbated during the 2015 and 2016 spring season where the City of Houston was the hardest hit as if the climate was similar to Mumbai or Kolkata, India with heavy rainfall usually from moisture from the Gulf of Mexico). During the opposite phase, La Niña, the jet stream is much further north, therefore winter is milder and drier than normal. Hurricanes are more likely to impact Texas during La Niña due to decreased wind shear in the Atlantic. Droughts in Texas are much more likely during La Niña. The 2010-11 La Niña is mostly to blame for one of the worst droughts in Texas history.
When a number of planters from Virginia and North Carolina brought their Anglicanism with them to Tennessee, they largely bypassed the rugged, mountainous terrain of the eastern part of the state, in favor of fertile lands in the middle and western parts of the state to grow tobacco and cotton. Therefore, prior to the Civil War, only a few towns in the region had Episcopal congregations. It was not until well into the 20th century that significant growth occurred in East Tennessee, facilitated in large measure by mission-minded bishops and priests.
Often people try to avoid or outrun a tornado in a vehicle. Although cars can travel faster than the average tornado, the directive from the National Weather Service is for house-dwellers in the path of a tornado to take shelter at home rather than risk an escape by vehicle. This is a result of several factors and statistics. An interior room inside a well-built frame house (especially one with a basement) provides a reasonable degree of protection from all but the most violent tornadoes. Underground or above-ground tornado shelters, as well as extremely strong structures such as bank vaults, offer almost complete protection. Cars, on the other hand, can be heavily damaged by even weak tornadoes, and in violent tornadoes they can be thrown large distances, even into buildings. High-profile vehicles such as buses and tractor trailers are even more vulnerable to high winds.
There are 23 league across the United States, in 22 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California (NorCal & SoCal), Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Oregon, West Virginia, Maryland, Montana and Wisconsin.
In the Canadian Tornado Alley in Central/Western Canada, warm, humid air from the United States meets cool, dry air from Northern Canada and the Rocky Mountains. This creates an ideal environment for severe thunderstorms which could produce tornadoes. In the Great Lakes region towards the St. Lawrence River, severe thunderstorms which could produce tornadoes forms from warm, humid air from the United States and cooler air across the Great Lakes, these are triggered alongside lake-breeze fronts. The amount of precipitation in storms around the Great Lakes is normally more than the prairies as the warm temperatures and Great Lakes fuel the storms with heavy precipitation right from the lakes.
Located in Tornado Alley, many tornadoes have struck the county, including an F4 tornado on April 10, 1979, which obliterated the town of Braddyville, Iowa across the county line. Tornadoes have damaged two of the county's largest buildings, the Administration Building on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University and Conception Abbey. The 1881 Hopkins tornado is one of the first recorded F5 tornadoes.
No state is entirely free of tornadoes; however, they occur more frequently in the Central United States, between the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains. Texas reports the most tornadoes of any state due to its large size, in addition to its proximity to Tornado Alley. Kansas and Oklahoma ranked first and second respectively in the number of tornadoes per area, per data collected through 2007, however in 2013 statistics from the National Climatic Data Center show Florida ranked first. Although Florida reports a high number and density of tornado occurrences, tornadoes there rarely reach the strength of those that sometimes occur in the southern plains. Regionally, the frequency of tornadoes in the United States is closely tied with the progression of the warm season when warm and cold air masses often clash.
Most tornadoes in the United States occur east of the Rocky Mountains. The Great Plains, the Midwest, the Mississippi Valley and the southern United States are all areas that are vulnerable to tornadoes. They are relatively rare west of the Rockies and are also less frequent in the northeastern states. Tornado Alley is a colloquial term for an area particularly prone to tornadoes. There is no officially defined 'Tornado Alley' – at its broadest this area stretches from northern Texas to Canada with its core centered on Oklahoma, Kansas and northern Texas. Another highly significant region – colloquially known as Dixie Alley – is the southern United States and particularly the northern and central parts of Alabama and Mississippi. Florida is one of the most tornado-prone states. However, Florida tornadoes only rarely approach the strength of those that occur elsewhere.