# Tornadoes do not occur in major cities? True? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 13, 2003, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857 "2003-08-13T07:45:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/1 "2003-08-13T07:45:27Z")
As per title ---
**Author:** ![Publius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@Publius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Publius)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/2 "2003-08-13T07:47:36Z")
I would imagine the air currents generated by an urban environment make it difficult for a tornado to form (in much the same way that tornadoes rarely form over mountainous terrain, for example), but apparently it does happen very occasionally. There was a tornado in [Salt Lake City](http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/1999/wtor811.htm) a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/3 "2003-08-13T07:54:19Z")
Topeka is fairly major. We had a number of tornadoes there when I lived there. One clipped a few shingles off our roof, went down the block and demolished a Kroger. This was around 1965. ---
**Author:** ![Publius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@Publius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Publius)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/4 "2003-08-13T07:57:04Z")
Sorry, I should have mentioned that my post was a complete WAG. I live in southern California, so my experience with Tornadoes is confined to the local air show. That’s the RAF Tornado, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/5 "2003-08-13T07:58:34Z")
Here’s a dramatic image of a tornado in downtown Miami, from 1997: [http://www.udel.edu/OHS/severeweather/sld049.htm](http://www.udel.edu/OHS/severeweather/sld049.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/6 "2003-08-13T08:04:02Z")
Fort Worth Texas got hit a couple years ago, right downtown. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/7 "2003-08-13T08:29:55Z")
And don’t forget the Edmonton tornado of 1987 - it was huge. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/8 "2003-08-13T10:00:10Z")
Tell that to those in southern Oklahoma City/Moore. ---
**Author:** ![KenGr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecc23a/32.png) [@KenGr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KenGr)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/9 "2003-08-13T11:44:24Z")
It is popularly thought that that large cities deflect tornados and trailer parks attract them. I suspect neither theory holds up. However, large bodies of water do seem to deflect tornados. For instance, Chicago distant suburbs regularly get tornados but the lakefront has never had one. ---
**Author:** ![Kritter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a587f6/32.png) [@Kritter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kritter)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/10 "2003-08-13T11:45:57Z")
[Nashville](http://www.cnn.com/WEATHER/9804/16/nashville.tornado.4/) was hit a few years ago as well. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/11 "2003-08-13T11:48:50Z")
I was just looking at pictures last night of a tornado that hit Cincinnati. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/12 "2003-08-13T11:48:52Z")
[Nashville, April 16, 1998](http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bna/surveys/nash_tor.htm). What I would like to find out is whether there has been a recorded tornado in the city of Memphis, TN. I’ve heard the claim that the Mississippi river/the river bluffs protect the city from tornados. But I also heard that the mountains around Chattanooga & Knoxville protected them, and I know that’s not true. Has there been a tornado recorded in Memphis proper? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/13 "2003-08-13T12:19:58Z")
At the time of the Nashville 1998 big blow (F5 IIRC) quite a bit was made on local weather programs about the myth of tornados avoiding larger cities because of some “dome” effect caused by all the concrete and other structures. At the time that myth had been (apparently) regarded as fairly solid. No more. Major areas in Nashville were obliterated, including the new coliseum for the Titans. Well, not obliterated, damaged. Other places were obliterated, though. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/14 "2003-08-13T12:27:04Z")
Part of the reason you don’t see this as often as you might think is simple statistics. The percentage of land area covered by major cities is miniscule compared to the percentage of the population that lives in/near them. Geographical distribution is a factor as well-there aren’t all that many really major cities in ‘Tornado Alley’. And some of the biggest (eg. Houston, Chicago) are on the shores of large bodies of water, which does seem to be a factor … ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/15 "2003-08-13T12:36:18Z")
Nashville, TN Ft. Worth, TX Salt Lake City, UT Topeka, KS Ft. Smith, AR (Not exactly “major,” but its population is around 120,000) Tulsa, OK OK City, OK Andover, KS (Suburb of Wichita) Kissimmee, FL (Suburb of Orlando) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/16 "2003-08-13T14:31:30Z")
Pittsburgh had touchdowns in 1998 and again this year. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/17 "2003-08-13T14:46:23Z")
[Yesterday in Miami.](http://www.msnbc.com/local/wtvj/a1737011.asp) ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/18 "2003-08-13T15:02:19Z")
> [@](#): > > What I would like to find out is whether there has been a recorded tornado in the city of Memphis, TN. I’ve heard the claim that the Mississippi river/the river bluffs protect the city from tornados. But I also heard that the mountains around Chattanooga & Knoxville protected them, and I know that’s not true. Has there been a tornado recorded in Memphis proper? After the events of July 22 (“Hurricane Elvis”, from which we are still picking up the pieces), I would say 1) the bluff protection is probably a myth and 2) even if it isn’t a myth, it doesn’t matter since the bluffs clearly provide no protection against _derechos_. Officially (meaning “according to the National Weather Service”), the incredible damage caused by the July 22 storm was all caused by straight-line winds between 60 and 100 mph, but many here have voiced the opinion that the pattern of damage in suggest one or more tornados. Some trees appear to have their tops twisted off, and there are a number of corridors of severe damage, such as the one beginning around Central and Lamar and extending North-Northeast through the Central Gardens/Belvedere area, paralleling Linden Ave. [where Sen. Frist took his damage tour] and ending at the Ike’s and Union Avenue Baptist Church, which were both almost totally destroyed. To my knowledge, there were no eyewitness reports of funnel clouds–but this isn’t really surprising considering the population was huddled in basements and bathtubs at the time of the storm. I believe that the pockets of damage can be explained by severe microbursts in the storm. Does anyone have any information about the pattern of damage caused by microbursts? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/19 "2003-08-13T15:03:04Z")
Wow, talk about fighting ignorance ! I just picked up my 12 year old daughter from the Vancouver Airport following her vacation with her aunts down in Dallas,Texas. Seems everybody down there has a backyard pool and she told me that when she’s 18, she’s moving down there. I asked her “what about the tornadoes?”. Apparently her aunts need to be corrected. Thankyou all. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857/20 "2003-08-13T16:27:36Z")
We don’t all have backyard pools. I don’t. But it’s easy enough to find a friend close who does. Also, tornadoes are way down the list of things that I worry about. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornadoes-do-not-occur-in-major-cities-true/194857.md?page=2)