Why are there more tornado-producing storms in flat plains than in mountainous areas?
Actually, based on my experience, the mountain areas can get more radar based tornadoes signatures than over the valley or plains. This is especially true since you will get more forced lifting with certain aspect of how the wind flows with hills and mountain around the area. However, there are usually less people living per square miles or KM in the mountainous areas than in the plains and river valley. And the mountains will more likely block the view of a tornado in a certain distance. In the plains, a tornado can be relatively far away and you can still see it from a distance. With more people now moving into the foothills and mountain region, we have noticed an increased in funnel cloud and tornado reports over the past decade over the higher elevations. With more people in the mountains, we are now getting more confirmed tornado sightings in the mountains. Also, with the old radar (before Doppler), the mountainous areas will fill the scope with false echoes due to ground clutter
