In addition to being the lightning capital of the U.S., Florida
also leads the nation in the number of tornadoes during a
60-year period, according to a tornado expert at The Weather
Channel. Greg Forbes analyzed data from the National Weather
Service from 1950 to 2010 to arrive at his list of the top 10
tornado states. He looked at tornado numbers per 10,000 square
miles in each state to arrive at the states with the most
tornadoes per square mile. Florida had 12.3 tornadoes annually
per 10,000 square miles. While Florida typically does not see
massive storms like those that have caused enormous death and
destruction in the Midwest, many of the state's tornadoes
originate as waterspouts, and hurricanes often spin off
tornadoes. "Several things contribute to there being a lot of
tornadoes in Florida," Dr. Forbes said. "It's surrounded by
water so they can get tornadoes any month."