# Tornado Question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornado-question/580769
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 4, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornado-question/580769 "2011-05-04T23:19:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornado-question/580769/1 "2011-05-04T23:19:35Z")
Are tornadoes as common in other countries as they are in the United States, or is there something unique to the US that lends itself to tornadoes?
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### Author:  [@abderian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abderian)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornado-question/580769/2 "2011-05-04T23:29:03Z")
This topic was [covered](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1083/do-tornadoes-only-occur-in-north-america) by Cecil a few years back.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornado-question/580769/3 "2011-05-04T23:34:12Z")
Interesting timing, given that there was a [tornado in Auckland, New Zealand](http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/03/3206547.htm) two days ago. One person was killed.
That said, given that Cecil says Australia comes 2nd after the US, I’d say you have close to a monopoly on the big killer storms. I can’t remember the last time I heard of anyone dying here (in Australia) in a tornado.
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### Author:  [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornado-question/580769/4 "2011-05-04T23:40:14Z")
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@Laughing\_Lady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lady)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornado-question/580769/5 "2011-05-04T23:43:14Z")
There are also ‘tornado alleys’ in India and Bangladesh, but there is not as much data available in these areas.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornado-question/580769/6 "2011-05-05T00:04:04Z")
tornadoes will also come off of hurricanes coming ashore and moving inland.
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornado-question/580769/7 "2011-05-05T01:08:49Z")
More people are killed each year by tornadoes in Bangladesh than in any other country. They don’t have as many tornadoes as the U.S., but they have poor building construction, a high population density, and a lack of good tornado safety policies:
> **[Tornado](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado)**
>
> A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology to name a weather system with a low-pressure area in the center around which, from an observer looking down toward the surface of the Earth, winds blow counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in t
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### Author:  [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2011, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornado-question/580769/8 "2011-05-05T03:08:55Z")
> [@johnpost](#):
>
> tornadoes will also come off of hurricanes coming ashore and moving inland.
It’s my understanding that these tornados are fundamentally different in nature from the stand alone variety. From what I understand, those tornados are very small very quick to develop and very short lived.
Please correct me if my memory is wrong.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2011, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornado-question/580769/9 "2011-05-05T03:12:28Z")
> [@johnpost](#):
>
> tornadoes will also come off of hurricanes coming ashore and moving inland.
> [@WarmNPrickly](#):
>
> It’s my understanding that these tornados are fundamentally different in nature from the stand alone variety. From what I understand, those tornados are very small very quick to develop and very short lived.
>
> Please correct me if my memory is wrong.
my recall is similar to yours in that they are smaller and shorter lived.
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### Author:  [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornado-question/580769/10 "2011-05-05T03:30:01Z")
They are common to the flatlands of the world.
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### Author:  [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornado-question/580769/11 "2011-05-07T04:54:19Z")
> [@Lord\_Mondegreen](#):
>
> Interesting timing, given that there was a [tornado in Auckland, New Zealand](http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/03/3206547.htm) two days ago. One person was killed.
>
> That said, given that Cecil says Australia comes 2nd after the US, I’d say you have close to a monopoly on the big killer storms. I can’t remember the last time I heard of anyone dying here (in Australia) in a tornado.
Well, compared to the USA there isn’t anyone living in Australia to be killed.
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### Author:  [@Cadence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cadence)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornado-question/580769/12 "2011-05-08T15:41:26Z")
We had 2 people killed in my neighborhood and in a close town due to tornadoes. (U.S. southeast) I hate them. They were both F3. I wish there was a place I could go that does not have them.