Tornado Alley
States such as Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and western Ohio are sometimes included in Tornado Alley. Research suggests that tornadoes are becoming more frequent in the northern parts of Tornado Alley where it reaches the Canadian prairies.
Tornadoes of 2009
On April 10 (Good Friday), the storm system moved east into the Tennessee Valley and eventually into the Carolinas during the night. The Storm Prediction Center issued a moderate risk of severe weather for sections of the Tennessee Valley, Gulf Coast states and into the southern Appalachians region. As the system moved across the lower Ohio Valley area, a line of thunderstorms started to produce tornadoes in parts of Kentucky and Tennessee. One of the tornadoes that struck Tennessee was an EF4 that killed two people in Murfreesboro. Portions of the moderate risk area in northeastern Alabama, northwestern Georgia and southeastern Tennessee were upgraded to a high risk at 1:44 pm CDT (1844 UTC). The thunderstorms moved southeast across much of South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. They produced tornadoes in northeastern and central sections of Alabama. One area of thunderstorms produced a long-tracked tornado that moved from Grovetown, Georgia, through Augusta and ended in Ellenton, South Carolina. The tornado moved across Augusta but missed the Augusta National Golf Club where the Masters Tournament was taking place during the weekend.