Dear Tom,
I was surprised to read that a tornado occurred in the mountains of Colorado in May. Is there any place in the continental U.S. where tornadoes do not occur?
–Tim Rasmussen
Dear Tim,
Tornadoes have occurred in all 50 states, but they are much more common in the portions of the Plains, Midwest and South known as Tornado Alley. Twisters occur with a much lower frequency in the West, especially in the coastal region of the Pacific Northwest. Mountain tornadoes have been documented as high as the 12,000-foot level in California’s Sequoia National Park. Roger Edwards of NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center notes that the most violent high-altitude twister struck at the 11,000-foot level in Utah’s Unita Mountains on Aug. 11, 1993. Many meteorologists feel mountain twisters are under-reported, going undetected in the remote areas.
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