More tornadoes occur in the United Kingdom per square mile than any other country in the world.

More tornadoes occur in the United Kingdom per square mile than any other country in the world.

While other countries may get more severe tornadoes or more tornadoes overall in a year/season, the country that receives the most tornadoes by total area is England. Between 1980 and 2012, England experienced 2.2 tornadoes per year per 10,000 square kilometres (3,861 square miles) – which equates to one per every 4,545 square kilometres (1,754 square miles) annually. By comparison, the entire USA (including the non-contiguous states of Alaska and Hawaii) experienced 1.3 tornadoes annually per the same area – or one per 7,693 square kilometres (2,970 square miles).

When taking the wider British Isles into consideration (i.e., England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man), the rate was 1.2 tornadoes per year per 10,000 square kilometres (3,861 square miles), just under the US annual average.

This research was conducted by Kelsey Mulder and David Schultz from the University of Manchester, UK, using reports from the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO). The findings were published in the Monthly Weather Review, published by the American Meteorological Society, on 28 May 2015.