Oklahoma is struck by an average of 62 tornadoes every year.

 

Oklahoma is struck by an average of 62 tornadoes every year.

A large portion of Oklahoma lies in a region known colloquially as Tornado Alley.

This region which sees way more than its fair share of extreme weather stretches through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

This meteorological phenomenon results from cold winds from Canada mixing with warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico and several other unique factors.

This regularly leads to extreme weather, such as massive thunderstorms, hail storms, and tornadoes.

For example, during the 1912 Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak, tornadoes were recorded at an average of one per hour.

However, some parts of the world are much more prone to tornadoes than others. Globally, the middle latitudes, between about 30° and 50° North or South, provide the most favorable environment for tornadogenesis. This is the region where cold, polar air meets against warmer, subtropical air, often generating convective precipitation along the collision boundaries. In addition, air in the midlatitudes 

often flows at different speeds and directions at different levels of the troposphere, facilitating the development of rotation within a storm cell. Interestingly, the places that receive the most frequent tornadoes are also considered the most fertile agricultural zones of the world. This is due in part to the high number of convective storms delivering needed precipitation to these areas. Simply because of the large number of convective storms and the favorable environment, the odds are increased that some of these storms will produce tornadoes.