‘Tornado alley’ is shifting east, weather experts say

CINCINNATI (WXIX/Gray News) – Some meteorologists and tornado researchers believe the region dubbed “tornado alley” is beginning to shift east.

Typically, tornado alley is loosely defined as a significant portion of the Midwest and South, including large parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

In some maps, portions of New Mexico, Colorado, Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas are often included in tornado alley.

However, some researchers believe that the zone is shifting eastward to now include large parts of Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Illinois, Iowa, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, and even as far east as Alabama and Ohio.

A map of tornadoes confirmed by the National Weather Service so far in 2025 shows most of the year’s tornadoes have happened east of the Mississippi River. The zone typically referred to as tornado alley, west of the Mississippi River, has seen far less tornado activity.

Dr. Harold Brooks, a senior scientist at NOAA studying tornadoes and where they happen, said his 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,” Brooks said.

Ingredients required to make a tornado are becoming easier to come by east of the Mississippi River.

“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,” Brooks said. “It’s more likely to produce something when the conditions are there.”

Even with the new research, NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory reminds people that the idea of tornado alley can be misleading.

Tornadoes can occur and have been reported in all 50 states, NOAA says, and violent tornadoes happen outside of tornado alley every year.

Tornado alley is most active from April to June, but AccuWeather meteorologists say the ingredients for tornadoes start to come together for activity toward late February and March.

However, experts remind people that tornadoes can happen at any time of year.

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