Where Is Tornado Alley?

Where is/are...?

by Wes Locher, Who HQ

Learn about Tornado Alley, the area in the United States where tornadoes are most frequently formed and often cause the most damage.Robert Miller and Ernest Fawbush coined the term "Tornado Alley" after studying the pattern of tornadoes that occurred around Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. They determined that the highest number of tornadoes in the United States took place across states such as Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. In this exciting new book, readers will learn about the history of Tornado Alley, other weather phenomena in the area, and what you can do when there is a tornado headed your way. The book also reveals how tornadoes are formed, how storm chasers do their work, and how they help researchers predict new tornado patterns.

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 7, 2025

About the author

Wes Locher has written video games for developers such as FableLabs (Serious Weirdness, 2018), Based on the Play (Re*Sequenced, 2018), Nanobit Software (Lost in Fame, 2017), Pulsetense Games (Post-War Dreams, 2017), and Pocket Gems Games (Future: Uncertain, 2015). His comic books have been published in the USA, UK, and Canada by Alterna Comics (Unit 44, 2017), Titan Comics (Adrift, 2015), Markosia Enterprises (The Undoubtables, 2014), Arcana Studios (Chambers, 2013), and many others. He's the author of the nonfiction book Braving Britannia: Tales of the Life, Love, and Adventure in Ultima Online , and a collection of humorous essays called Musings on Minutiae, published in 2010.

Wes’s father was a journalist. His mother was an English teacher. Wes is genetically doomed to write for all eternity.

Visit him online at www.weslocher.com.

Reviews

[Daniel Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, but informative.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at the history of tornado detection, prediction, and warnings in the United States, from one of the first successfully predicted tornadoes in Oklahoma in the mid 1900s to the development of the F-Scale and EF-Scale to the ongoing mysteries of tornadoes and a look at other storms that swirl.

This was part history of meteorology development, particularly as in regards to tornadoes, and part science of storms. The book also touches on other storms with high winds and swirly motions such as dust devils, water spouts, hurricanes, and derechos. This was an engaging read, and I learned several things. I’m so glad to see that these Where Is/Who Was books now have bibliographies in the back.

Notes on content:
Language: None
Sexual content: None
Violence: Deaths in tornado touchdowns are mentioned as well as property damage. No gory details.
Ethnic diversity: Scientists mentioned are both white American and Japanese American.
LGBTQ+ content: None specified
Other: None

[blueygurl2016 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was more about the science of tornadoes (which was still neat, logged several interesting facts in my quote app lol) than about Tornado Alley. It did have some interesting tidbits though about Tornado Alley, like about the Woodward Tornado of 1947. Didn’t know about that one. Oklahoma’s had some pretty bad storms. I also didn’t know that the Joplin one was the costliest tornado in US history, costing $2.some billion. Wow. I just thought that the organization and the information of this overall though was a little bit odd and confusing at times, like they really couldn’t decide whether they wanted this book to be titled “Where is Tornado Alley” or “What is a Tornado.” But for what I learned about tornadoes (and tornadoes in Tornado Alley), this was still fun.

[Elexndra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Library borrow

[Hailey Vittrup · Rating 3 out of 5]

Were it not for the political agenda with biased and false information in the final chapter, this book would have been a phenomenal informational read on tornadoes.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but not my favorite in the series.

[Jasper · Rating 4 out of 5]

(He LOVED getting to hear his home state mentioned so much! We try and read and understand Tornados because he is scared of them still!)

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of great information in this book. I have a problem with the emphasis on political agendas that are promoted to young people for whom this book is written.

[Della Tingle · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, these books (Where Is/Who Is) are great, quick reads full of facts and information on a variety of people (both dead and alive) and other topics of interest.