Tornado Alley & Kansas City

[nullterm]

Originally Posted by kc chris

I still maintain it's nothing to worry about. They happen, it's rare, and it's very rare around the KC metro area.

Even if one took out Overland Park tomorrow, you're still talking one major tornado every 60 years. Would you avoid the west coast because of earthquakes? The east coast because of hurricanes? The mountains because of avalanches? The north because of blizzards? People make way to much of it. If sirens go off, go in your basement, 99.9999% chance you'll be fine.

To put this into perspective, 3 people have died in tornadoes this year. 1 person has died by lightening strike. Last year 70 people died in tornadoes, 28 died by lightening strikes (this is all in the US by the way). Being scared of them is an irrational fear, but if you have this irrational fear then going by the map above you need to either live in the rockies or in the north east.

StruckByLightning.org - Safety first! When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors!
Tornadoes of 2012 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I agree that it's nothing to worry about, as long as you follow the warnings. You don't want to be indignant that one time that it is something to worry about.

[kcmo]

So Kansas is actually pretty bad at least when you look at raw numbers. I guess the big difference is Kansas does not have many populated areas and tornadoes really do seem to avoid the KC area. It's can't be just because there is more rural areas as to why the tend to avoid KC. The KC area sprawls and covers a huge area. Same with Dallas, etc. Sure they will hit metro areas an even downtowns, but the more destructive ones seem to hit areas outside the metro and skim the outer suburbs in worst case scenarios. As mentioned above, destructive and deadly tornadoes are extremely rare in KC and relatively rare in even the most prone areas. It's just not a big deal. They are scary because people know what they are capable of.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by kc chris

Lived in KC all my life, have never even seen a tornado. Warnings go off maybe once or twice a year, nothing ever touches down nearby though. The last big tornado to hit the Kansas City area was in the 1957 to give you an idea of how often it happens, and that was a part of a wide outbreak all across the midwest.

St Louis's airport was hit last year, that was kind of a fluke.

Generally big cities create wind patterns that push tornadoes around them.

Me too. I've always wanted to see one, but never have. In high school, when the sirens went off, a friend of mine and I would jump in the car and try to find one, but we never had success.

[benji2.0]

I was in Manhattan the summer of 2008 and watched the tornado that skipped through the Kansas State Campus. Our house was on top of a hill and about .5 miles away from the path, most surreal experience of my life.

We were hanging out on our deck watching the storm roll in with the TV on in the background. The lightning got our attention first, never seen so many lightning strikes in such a short period of time, just a constant rumble of thunder with a strike every second or so.

Lightning settles down a bit and then you can start to hear the tornado. When people describe a tornado as sounding like a train they are exactly right. We couldnt see exactly where the tornado was since it was 10pm but you could tell the general area. We watched it for about 1 minute until insulation started blowing in our yard, thats when we decided to head for the basement.

[jbtornado]

I'm a storm chaser and have chased about ten years now. I lived in Wichita before moving up to the Kansas City area.. The heart of the "plains" tornado alley consist of central Oklahoma to South Central Kansas.. As has been discussed in this thread, the southeast USA has seen more tornado reports and is more prone to deadly tornadoes than most people think. There's a few main reasons for this. 1. The Southeast tornadoes occur generally after dark and from February to April. 2. Many are wrapped in rain and not easy to identify. 3. Many structures in these areas are not built as strong and do not have basements.

Kansas City has been hit by tornadoes but will never be as prone as areas from Wichita to Oklahoma City just based on the fact its a bit too far east of the "main" tornado alley. However its not THAT difficult for these ingredient to shift east just a touch and be right over our area. If anyone wants to follow my company or watch us chasing live we are on the web at Forever Chasing | Chasing whatever nature has to offer…. At this rate with the snow flying in May, we are losing days and this season is probably going to wind up below average

[Yooshi]

There are not a lot of tornadoes in Kansas City proper. You will often get tornado watches and warnings, and if you live in the area, having a good weather radio is a must, but you're a lot more likely to see tornadoes in the surrounding countryside than in the city itself.

[TabulaRasa]

My college town and campus were destroyed by a tornado when I was a student. I also grew up rurally and saw many, though didn't suffer major property damage at that point. Kind of cures you of being fascinated with seeing them.

[CuriousMama]

Originally Posted by kc chris
I still maintain it's nothing to worry about. They happen, it's rare, and it's very rare around the KC metro area.

Even if one took out Overland Park tomorrow, you're still talking one major tornado every 60 years. Would you avoid the west coast because of earthquakes? The east coast because of hurricanes? The mountains because of avalanches? The north because of blizzards? People make way to much of it. If sirens go off, go in your basement, 99.9999% chance you'll be fine.

To put this into perspective, 3 people have died in tornadoes this year. 1 person has died by lightening strike. Last year 70 people died in tornadoes, 28 died by lightening strikes (this is all in the US by the way). Being scared of them is an irrational fear, but if you have this irrational fear then going by the map above you need to either live in the rockies or in the north east.

StruckByLightning.org - Safety first! When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors!
Tornadoes of 2012 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by nullterm
I agree that it's nothing to worry about, as long as you follow the warnings. You don't want to be indignant that one time that it is something to worry about.

It makes sense that what's considered "normal" for someone seems less scary than something "different" even if it's not necessarily worse. My friends out here who are actually from California can't understand why I find earthquakes so unsettling (I pretty much refuse to drive across any of the bridges as images of people trapped on/between it when it collapsed were burned into my brain as a kid in Oklahoma) & no matter how many times I explain my point of view in favor of tornadoes vs. earthquakes they don't get it. As kc chris pointed out, everywhere's vulnerable to some sort of natural disaster: fires, floods, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. Of all that I can think of, I find tornadoes the best & though I'm admittedly biased, I think I have pretty rational reasons.

Tornadoes usually occur during the same time of year so you already know when to be more aware of your surroundings & they don't tend to just come out of nowhere (I remember sitting in my backyard in Norman, OK thinking a tornado might touchdown back in 1999 only to find out the next morning an F-5 had been about 30miles away at the time) Even if one does come, they're fairly easy to prepare for (you can't hide in a basement to avoid an earthquake) I also appreciate the that tornadoes are somewhat more of a short-term concern, less anxiety-inducing as you don't have to watch a hurricane/fire approaching/river rising/etc & try to determine if you should head to higher ground wondering when/if you'll be able to return.

It's actually the floods that worry me about KCMO...

[GraniteStater]

Kansas City is in Tornado Alley for sure, it has just been lucky that no large tornadoes have caused damage for a longer period of time. Both Lawrence and Manhattan areas have been hit by tornadoes that have caused damage. They weren't EF5 tornadoes like the one that hit Joplin, MO, but you can never let your guard down when it comes to Severe Weather. Invest in a NOAA Weather Radio and Also sign up for mobile alerts on your phone for Tornado Warnings.
I have a bit of a background in Meteorology as I took many courses at the university level, so it has always been an interest and a passion for me.