# Tornado's in the USA only?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 10, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759 "2003-01-10T16:09:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@squid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squid)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/1 "2003-01-10T16:09:36Z")
Excluding “dust devils” and “water spouts” is the USA the only country to have Tornados? I don’t seem to see any reports anywhere else.
---
### Author:  [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/2 "2003-01-10T16:14:28Z")
Canada gets wholloped several times a year with Tornados. Back in the late 80s (1986?) Edmonton, the capital of Alberta, got nailed with a Tornado and it killed several people.
A few years ago, a large camp ground/resort in Central Alberta (Pine Lake) got wiped out by a Tornado.
I live in North Central (by looking at a map) Alberta and I see funnel clouds every year up here. Some touch down, but almost always in unpopulated areas.
---
### Author:  [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/3 "2003-01-10T16:15:10Z")
Nope, Canada has them quite often. In fact there was one just north of where I live last year (about five miles). It’s just that the frequency of occurence and severity aren’t as high as they are in the United States.
In 1987 one hit the city of Edmonton and killed 27 people. For more information go here :[http://datalib.library.ualberta.ca/tornado/chapt1.html](http://datalib.library.ualberta.ca/tornado/chapt1.html)
There was also a severe tornado (F3) that hit a campground at Pine Lake Alberta in July 2000, killing 12 people.
There was also a rare tornado sighting in England in January of last year.
Keith
I have personally known two people who’s farms have been hit by tornadoes.
---
### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/4 "2003-01-10T16:15:29Z")
They happen all over the world, but I guess the news media will only report ones local to you. Also, I believe the ones in the US are bigger and scarier than in most other places. And the US seems to have more trailer parks. 😉
Here’s a UK tornado site: [Tornadoes in the UK](http://www.torro.org.uk/).
---
### Author:  [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/5 "2003-01-10T16:16:22Z")
Damn…do a bit of research and I get scooped…btw the storm that spawned the Edmonton tornado died around my aunt and uncles’s farm, they got an estimated eight to twelve inches of rain in the aftermath.
Keith
---
### Author:  [@squid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squid)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/6 "2003-01-10T16:18:14Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jjimm \*
> \*\* And the US seems to have more trailer parks. \*\*
Ouch! Now that hurts.😛
---
### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/7 "2003-01-10T16:23:17Z")
**Cecil Adams** on: [Do Tornadoes Only Occur in North America?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_059.html).
---
### Author:  [@Zagadka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zagadka)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/8 "2003-01-10T16:25:15Z")
A tornado hit ONE house in the middle of Los Angeles’s suburbs (an inccredibly rare place for them to pop up). Thenn vanished. Wha-bam. You don’t get a much more direct (insert string of inappropriate words)ing from god than that.
---
### Author:  [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/9 "2003-01-10T16:26:00Z")
[This site](http://www.bangladeshtornadoes.org/) states that tornadoes are quite common in India, and Bangladesh. Of course, what natural disaster doesn’t befall Bangladesh? They probably get blizzards (when in isn’t monsooning, that is).
---
### Author:  [@squid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squid)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/10 "2003-01-10T16:30:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by friedo \*
> \*\ ***Cecil Adams** on: [Do Tornadoes Only Occur in North America?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_059.html). \*\*
I MUST refine my seaching skills…i just seached “tornados”. Why didn’t my Straight Dope seach find this link? I guess that is a new question.
---
### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/11 "2003-01-10T17:56:38Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by friedo_
> Cecil Adams on: Do Tornadoes Only Occur in North America?
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by squid \*
> I MUST refine my seaching skills…i just seached “tornados”. Why didn’t my Straight Dope seach find this link? I guess that is a new question.
Because of the spelling difference/error involved - probably if you’d searched only on “tornado”, it would have come up for you.
---
### Author:  [@aeropl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aeropl)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/12 "2003-01-10T21:43:03Z")
Probably because the first sentence of the second paragraph of Cecil’s reply doesn’t make sense.
---
### Author:  [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/13 "2003-01-10T22:09:30Z")
Hey yeah you’re right; it’s a fragment. And I think that “moist” is misspelled two sentences later. Gee, I wonder why nobody caught that.
---
### Author:  [@caracal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caracal)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/14 "2003-01-10T22:18:41Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by squid \*
> \*\*I MUST refine my seaching skills…i just seached “tornados”. Why didn’t my Straight Dope seach find this link? I guess that is a new question. \*\*
Maybe you just Dan Qualyle’d it.
I do it all the time. Tornaodo **e** s. 🙂
BTW- I’m not picking on you. I just couldn’t resist.
I would also agreee with whomever said that tornadoes might just be bigger here. Aw, hell. I’ll even agree with the trailor park comment. I was in the big F5 tornado in OKC a few years ago. I must say that one would have recieved worldwide coverage no matter which country it hit.
---
### Author:  [@ReBusEniGma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReBusEniGma)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/15 "2003-01-10T23:43:54Z")
Yep, the Tornado that decimated the camp/ground at Pine Lake was dreadful. Mrs. eNiGma’s folks farm just west of there, so we were pretty well acquainted with that one. **Bernse** , **Odieman** , do either of you remember what the rating on the tornado that Evergreen Trailer Park in Edmonton was? I may have missed it in that article, but I didn’t seem to see it there.
---
### Author:  [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/16 "2003-01-10T23:55:21Z")
For a graphic representation of North America’s tornado alley, I point you toward [this map](http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Atmosphere/tornado/agri_map.html&edu=elem&file=/new).
It’s not just “the media,” **jjim**. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/17 "2003-01-11T13:03:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by TheeGrumpy \*
> \*\*It’s not just “the media,” **jjim**. 🙂 \*\*
Fair point, and I should clarify: when there’s a tornado in the UK, because they’re so rare, it’s always [big news](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/45580.stm) (and UK tornadoes are usually comparatively puny). If there’s a big one in the US, it makes national news in the UK, too, but if there’s one in Russia or wherever, we don’t tend to hear about it. I’m guessing that, since they’re so common in the US, tornadoes outside the US don’t tend to make the US news.
---
### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/18 "2003-01-11T15:09:37Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Achernar \*
> Hey yeah you’re right; it’s a fragment. And I think that “moist” is misspelled two sentences later. Gee, I wonder why nobody caught that.
Well, since **Ed Zotti** is Cecil’s editor, we know who to blame. 😉
---
### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/19 "2003-01-11T19:17:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ferret Herder \*
> \*\*Well, since **Ed Zotti** is Cecil’s editor, we know who to blame. 😉 \*\*
Well, since the **both** of you are from Chicagoland, …
It’s been nice knowing you **Ferret Herder**.
😃
---
### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2003, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759/20 "2003-01-11T19:21:58Z")
No, those rumors that my Italian-American husband is part of “The Outfit” are just that, rumors. Besides, I’d never do that to Ed.
Oh, is that not what you meant?
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tornados-in-the-usa-only/147759.md?page=2)