Tornadoes in the United States
The Midwestern states are very prone to tornado activity, as they are part of "Tornado Alley." States included in the area that are hit by tornadoes the most are Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota. The Midwestern States are often hit by tornadoes during the late spring and early summer months, especially the months of May and June. This is due to the aforementioned air mass moving northward into the Midwest and combining with another air mass that move southward from Canada. This creates unstable air, creating the potential for storms to strike the most during these months. The frequency begins to decrease in the middle of the summer, as the air mass moves northward into the Great Lakes states.
Tornado outbreak of mid-October 2007
The first severe thunderstorms developed during the early morning of October 17 across much of northern and eastern Texas and parts of Oklahoma and Kansas with only one reported tornado in east Texas. Several severe thunderstorms then later developed across eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, western Mississippi, eastern Kansas, Missouri and parts of Nebraska, Iowa, Kentucky, Illinois and Tennessee. Twelve additional tornadoes were reported in Missouri and Louisiana during the late afternoon and early evening with damage reported in Lawrence and Greene counties in Missouri. One of the tornadoes located near Verona destroyed several barns and homes but did not cause any injuries and was later confirmed as an EF2. The storms persisted throughout the night and an additional tornado killed 2 people inside a mobile home in Greene County, Missouri near Paris.