For the last several months, I’ve found myself on a quest. One that as a marine biologist I didn’t expect to find myself on, but that has origins long before I decided ocean science was my path. Tornadoes have imprinted on my psyche. I am not alone in this. Last week, I asked are some areas more tornado prone? What I really wanted to know is if some somehow tornadoes are different in the South. Tornadoes seem to be so much more imprinted on our collective consciousness here.
I posed the question of a difference in Southern tornadoes to Kevin Myatt, an Arkansas native, self-proclaimed weather geek, and writer on the weather blog for roanoke.com. “The first thing you need to know about Dixie tornadoes is they don’t look like the Wizard of Oz funnel” Let me explain. Tornadoes in the South do not come to a neat tapering point. Instead they are sloppy but also key is they are hidden. “Take Joplin, you couldn’t even tell it was a tornado except from one angle.” Higher moisture in South due to the proximity to the Gulf of Mexico leads to wetter storms. The tornado becomes rain wrapped. Combine this with a cloud base close to the ground and you have tornado edges that blurry and shrouded.
But there is another key idea. Southern tornadoes are the danger that lurks in the night—the proverbial boogey man. Both Myatt and Roger Edwards, lead forecaster at the Storm Prediction Center that I also posed my question to, both mentioned night tornadoes to me. Tornado season in the South includes November to February when days are shorter makes them hard to see. Combine this with the more complex topography and forests of the South over the Midwest and you have a recipe for distress.
The reason is not because more tornadoes occur in Dixie—Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Florida safely hold that title. But interestingly, outside of Oklahoma, more tornado watches occur annually in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. Parts of Mississippi and Alabama see over 16 annually. Edwards states, “In reality, tornado season is different in South because it can be anytime of the year.” During the early part of the year, Gulf of Mexico moist air brings moist, warm, and unstable that will turn a normal thunderstorm into a tornado. In the fall, hurricanes and tropical storm spawning tornadoes. Whereas we may not see more tornadoes, we are definitely living under the constant threat of them.
Edwards of course also points to poverty, flimsier homes, and poor building codes, prevalent throughout the South, often lead to more damage even in weaker tornadoes. “Preparedness and construction are vital.” Apparently the constant threat has made us more complacent rather than more prepared.