Tornado Alley
Although the official boundaries of Tornado Alley are not clearly defined, its core extends from northern Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, into South Dakota. States such as Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and western Ohio are sometimes included in Tornado Alley. Some research suggests that tornadoes are becoming more frequent in the northern parts of Tornado Alley where it reaches the Canadian prairies.
Tornadoes of 2016
On April 26 and 27, a large but weak tornado outbreak occurred across a large portion of the Great Plains. On the afternoon of April 26, the Storm Prediction Center issued a PDS tornado watch for most of the state of Oklahoma as well as portions of central Texas. A 10% hatched risk area for tornadoes extended from Nebraska to Texas, and multiple intense tornadoes were expected. However, the wind profile that evening did not support sustained supercell thunderstorms. As a result, only scattered weak tornadoes occurred, though EF1 tornadoes caused minor to moderate damage in parts of Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Weak tornado activity continued the following day in Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky, including an EF0 and an EF1 that caused minor damage in the western part of Omaha. An early morning EF0 blew a large tree over onto a mobile home near Tomball, Texas, killing an elderly woman inside. Overall, the outbreak produced at least 57 tornadoes and one death.