Tornado Alley
The term was first used in 1952 as the title of a research project to study severe weather in areas of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, and Minnesota. It is largely a media-driven term although tornado climatologists distinguish peaks in activity in certain areas and storm chasers have long recognized the Great Plains tornado belt.
Tornado Alley
Another third of Canadian tornadoes strike Southern Ontario, especially in the region halfway between the Great Lakes from Lake St. Clair to Ottawa. This happens because tornadoes in this region are triggered or augmented by lake breeze fronts from Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and Georgian Bay. Tornadoes do not often hit lake shadow regions, although they are not unknown, and some, such as the 2011 Goderich, Ontario tornado, have been violent. However, most Ontario tornadoes are concentrated in a narrow corridor from Windsor and Sarnia through London, and then northeast to Barrie and Ottawa. Tornadoes up to EF4 in strength have been documented in this region.