‘Tornado alley’ shifting east, experts say

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Researchers studying tornadoes and where they form say the typical “tornado alley,” which includes Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas, is starting to shift east, including Missouri, Arkansas, and Kentucky.

Here is a map of the tornadoes confirmed by the National Weather Service in 2025 through early June.

In the white, east of the Mississippi River, is where most of this year’s tornadoes have happened. In the red, west of the area in white, is where the previous “tornado alley” is located.

Researchers say areas in the white are where the ingredients required for tornadoes are easier to come by. These include humidity, something to lift the storm, such as heat, and instability to keep the storm going.

“When the atmosphere is in the right set-up to bring the ingredients together, it tends to bring them together over perhaps a larger area that we’ll typically see in the Plain,” said Dr. Harold Brooks, a senior scientist at NOAA studying tornadoes and where they happen. “It’s more likely to produce something when the conditions are there.”

Dr. Brooks’ research hints at a shift in the typical tornado alley.

“Over the mid-south region, so Memphis and the surrounding area, there’s been an increase in the number of days with tornadoes with about 10% over the last 40 years, and a decrease over West Texas, the Texas Panhandle, and western Kansas area of a similar magnitude,” said Dr. Brooks.

Long-term research like that of Dr. Brooks, plus recent severe weather outbreaks, are reminders that tornadoes can happen quickly, without warning, and anywhere.

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