Why do so many tornadoes hit Tornado Alley?
“Tornado Alley” is a common name for the central plains of the United States, usually thought of as including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska. Tornadoes are common there because the three things that tornadoes need to get going exist in abundance: moisture, heating, and lifting. The moisture comes from the Gulf of Mexico, the heating from the sun, and the lifting comes from the dry line. The dry line is a frontal boundary between the dry air to the west and the moist air to the east. Every day it moves around providing an excellent triggering mechanism for large thunderstorms.
