Tornado Magnets - Towns and Cities That keep Getting Hit by Tornadoes

Many cities and towns unfortunately get struck by tornadoes every year. But there's some places that keep getting hit over and over again. Almost as if they were tornado magnets. We discuss these towns and cities.

Towns mentioned:
Valley Brook, OK
Andover, KS
Jarrell, TX
Kokomo, IN
McDonald Chapel, AL
Birmingham, AL
Moore, OK
Oklahoma City, OK
Cordova, AL

Credits:
abc 33/40:

Tornado Classics Vol 2:

Twister 2 trailer:

Jarrell Tornado Footage:
KVUE

Kokomo by the Beach Boys

USA.com
Google Earth and Google Maps

#tornado #tornadopaths #tornadotowns

[koopey]

Codell, Kansas is pretty high up on my list. On May 20th, 1916 a tornado hit the city, then one year later to the date, May 20th, 1917. A tornado hit the town again. One year later to that date, May 20th, 1918 another tornado hit the town. Three years in a row on the exact date. That is insane to me.

[fevengr]

Our home was totally destroyed in the '91 Andover tornado. We rebuilt. The tornado last month missed us by 1 mile. Way too close!

[bcaprari]

When I was on tour back in 2015 and we stopped in Oklahoma City, we got something to eat beforehand in Moore. This was a couple years after that horrible tornado in 2013. I took a walk up the street and I ended up walking past what used to be an entire neighborhood, and is now just block after block of empty concrete slabs covered in weeds. It was really eerie/intense.

[TBNTX]

As an Emergency Rescue volunteer, I've travelled to Moore, OK four times. Another tornado magnet has been West Liberty, KY.

[jeffrobe]

Moore, OK native. My senior year was 2013 and we didn’t go the last two weeks of high school. Had many classmates and teammates lose their whole house. If wondering why people would live in an area like this, it’s and insurance gamble. Moore, OK historically has super low house prices. Buy a house and slap on some half way decent home insurance and you can possibly have a brand new home every decade 👍🏼

[ammie]

I live in Oklahoma in the middle of Tornado Alley. Sometimes every spring they travel the same track, and it may be for multiple years or only one year. For example, from 2005 to 2010, we had numerous tornados travel the exact same path, all very near or going over my house. Had to replace the roof once. Luckily, most were F1 or F2 and short-track. This pattern has been broken since then, although we did have one this year heading our way, but it dissipated. Not a meteorologist, but it must have to do with the changing position of the jet stream, El Nino or La Nina years, etc.

[Weatherboy]

A bit surprised you didn’t mention Tanner, AL considering it got hit by 2 F5s on the same day, about an hour apart. Of course that was the 74 super outbreak. IIRC it was hit in 2011 too.

[P_RO_]

Tanner AL was hit by by 2 F5 tornadoes 30 minutes apart in '74, and again by a mile-wide EF-5 in 2011. This is Limestone county which has seen 64 tornadoes of all strengths since 1909. Harvest AL was affected similarly, particularly the Anderson Hills subdivision which is known as a "tornado magnet" to locals, having experienced 7 tornadoes F2/EF-2 or higher since 1935. This is Madison county AL where 83 tornadoes of all strengths have been documented since 1884. This region is a close runner-up to the OKC area for F4/EF-4 and higher tornadoes, and climatologists predict it will equal or surpass them within the next 50 years.

[williamlong]

Why are tornadoes greedy? Because they always want Moore....

[Kenna]

As someone who lives in the OKC metro area...tornado season is always a fun time

[HereOnEarth]

Kokomo native here, I actually live in the historical path of the 1965 Palm Sunday F4. Before reaching Kokomo, it absolutely leveled Alto and Russiaville, two small towns on the outskirts of Kokomo. In 2016 I got a video of the EF-3 as it tracked less than half a mile away from where I worked.

[jessicalee]

I grew up in Moore Oklahoma living at 27th and I-35 across from the first Baptist church. I was in the may 3rd, 1999 tornado and the 2003 which was my senior year of HS. I had several family members involved in the 2013 including my grandma who loved on 4th and Eastern. I have many many stories about living in tornado alley and no one can ever understand unless you have lived through it. I respect the power of nature so have always been fascinated about what made my state, town, neighborhood, & even the street I grew up on a target.

Side note...Gary England is the G.O.A.T if you ask me. Also my grandpa used to say that in the 70s rumor had it Gary England had a parrot he used to help him predict the weather before all the tech 😆. Not sure how much of that is true but it makes for a good story about a legend who has saved me and my family a time or two!

[dontask]

OK always has the rest beat, but Nashville, TN has had 3 tornadoes roll right through the middle of the city. Most recently in March, 2020. It followed almost the exact same path as the previous two. All of them were F3 range. That’s significant in my book. Especially for major city limits.

[short_personman]

always surprises me when kokomo is brought up with how small it is. my whole family lives in or near kokomo, and all of my grandparents have told me their stories about the palm sunday tornadoes. when the ef3 hit in 2016 it was mind blowing and frightening driving through town and seeing all the damage. what ive learned is dont move into the western half of cedar crest, seems like that place gets hit by *something* every time theres a storm

[JOovshak]

If you get a chance look at a topography map of Moore OK ...you can actually see where the winds funnel into it

[WindseekerWX]

My city, Brandenburg, KY, has been hit by multiple tornadoes including the historic F5 on April 3, 1974. We've had 4 other tornadoes in the last 20 or so years that were EF1/EF0 and the tornado that tore Mayfield, KY up over the winter ended about 15 miles southwest of town so we dodged that bullet.

[tomknight]

Our recent tornado outbreak actually had a tornado do a full 360 degree loop and crossed it's own path near Tecumseh
OK. Seminole OK was hit the same day by two separated by a couple of hours.

[mrblock]

Had a buddy who lived near Lexington Kentucky whos barn got struck by a tornado. A week later another tornado hit that same barn.
Safe to say they didn't even bother to clean up the mess too much as the next tornado cleaned it up for them.

[WayneFielder]

Dude. Loving your content. I just gotta ask, are you simply a tornado enthusiast or a Data Analytics enthusiast who has chosen tornadoes as your study group? LOTS of research goes in to the work you are doing and I appreciate it.

[clebyweby]

Fort Wayne, IN native here - been to Kokomo many times before with family and friends and there are still some remnants of tornadoes in the southern part of the city but other than that it's a great small city in Indiana with friendly and nice people