What US states are considered to be in "tornado alley"?

scottietwenty3

Tornadoes are common in an area stretching from Texas to Iowa, the area known as Tornado Alley USA also covers Colorado, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Oklahoma. http://www.climateandweather.net/world_weather/tornados.htm May 04 09, 12:57 AM

zbeckabee

Some consider tornado alley as the area where only the most intense killer tornadoes are likely to occur, looking where F4 and F5 tornadoes have struck in history multiple times. Others draw tornado alley only where tornado frequency is the highest, looking at areas that have recorded multiple tornado touchdowns consistently year after year. Some years certain states seem to get enough tornadoes to qualify as part of tornado alley but, when looking at tornadoes over many years in that state you see that it was just an unusual period for them. With many areas experiencing warmer than normal temperatures, traditional tornado alley maps don't seem to represent those climate changes accurately. Many arguments over what states are in tornado alley take place, so to be fair qualify what criteria you are using in determining tornado alley. In 2004 people in Illinois were at greater risk than most of the areas people think of as tornado alley. "The four most prominent tornado alleys that were identified in the United States include south-central Mississippi, east-central to northeast Oklahoma, southeast Nebraska and the area from western Tennessee to northeast Mississippi and northern Alabama. Other prominent alleys include northeast Kansas to central Iowa, northeast Arkansas, northwest Georgia, central Illinois to northwest Ohio, northwest Louisiana, northeast Nebraska, southeast Missouri to southwest Ohio and east to southeast North Carolina." http://www.tornadochaser.net/tornalley.html May 04 09, 5:38 AM