1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:06,280 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, and 2 00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:08,720 Speaker 1: there's Chuck and Jerry's here too, sitting in for Dave, 3 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:11,760 Speaker 1: and this is stuff you should know Short Stuff. 4 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 2: That's right, we're talking about tornadoes again on the show. 5 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:19,639 Speaker 2: We've talked plenty about tornadoes and Tornado Alley even but 6 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:22,160 Speaker 2: we're gonna talk more about it because probably since we 7 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:25,159 Speaker 2: did the last update on Tornado Alley, it seems like 8 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:26,200 Speaker 2: it might be changing. 9 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,480 Speaker 1: A bit, right, Yeah, definitely for sure, and just even 10 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:32,360 Speaker 1: classifying tornadoes. I'm sure we talked about the changeover because 11 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: it would have happened before we talked about it, but 12 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: it would have been really new. So yeah, there's a 13 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:41,600 Speaker 1: lot to dig into about Tornado Alley and tornadoes. One 14 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:44,160 Speaker 1: of the first things to understand is that Tornado Alley 15 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:49,720 Speaker 1: is a contested area of the United States of North America, 16 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:54,240 Speaker 1: but the United States in particular that runs essentially from Texas. 17 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:58,320 Speaker 1: Why are you laughing at me? Just runs? 18 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 2: I love it to bear with this. When you dig 19 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 2: yourself into a word hole then climb back out. 20 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 1: Of it, well watch this, I'm climbing up. It starts 21 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: in Texas, it goes all the way up to the Dakotas, 22 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: but it also veers over, it bends and hits like Iowa, Indiana, Ohio. 23 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: And this the reason this is considered tornado Alley is 24 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:23,760 Speaker 1: because it has the most tornadoes of anywhere else in 25 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 1: the United States, which means that it has more tornadoes 26 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: than anywhere else in the world. And the reason that 27 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:33,400 Speaker 1: is is because it has the perfect conditions for tornadoes 28 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:34,320 Speaker 1: to develop. 29 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:39,120 Speaker 2: All Right, So tornado producing conditions that you mentioned are 30 00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:44,160 Speaker 2: they form through instability in the atmosphere. So a lot 31 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 2: of moist, warm air beneath that cooler, dryer air, and 32 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 2: then something called wind sheer. It's just when winds are 33 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:55,320 Speaker 2: changing with height, like the winds are changing and then 34 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 2: they're changing at different height levels. And if you've got that, 35 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 2: then you've got a pretty good recipe for a tornado. 36 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 2: And it just so happens that those states that you 37 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 2: mentioned have a lot of that kind of weather happening 38 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 2: thanks to where they are. 39 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: Basically, yeah, so warm moist air comes up from the 40 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:16,519 Speaker 1: Gulf of Mexico and cooler, dryer air comes from the west, 41 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: like say the Rockies, and they converge in that area 42 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:22,520 Speaker 1: that's Tornado Alley. And when you've got those two factors, 43 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:26,079 Speaker 1: like you said, the wind shear and the instability, supercell 44 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,480 Speaker 1: thunderstorms can break out and that's what spawned tornadoes. And 45 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 1: so anywhere you find that where there's instability and wind shear, 46 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: a tornado can break out. And they do break out 47 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: outside a tornado alley all the time, bad ones, yeah, 48 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: for sure. And yeah, it's not even North America. There's 49 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: a long standing myth that we probably talked about about 50 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: whether there's tornadoes outside of North America, and there are, 51 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:56,079 Speaker 1: but it's just that there's so many more in North America. 52 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: You can forgive people for thinking they're just a North 53 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 1: American phenomenon. 54 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 2: Then yeah, And the other thing too, is in the 55 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 2: areas that you described as tornado alley, at least a 56 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 2: lot of them have these big, wide open planes, and 57 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:10,720 Speaker 2: that's just kind of become the common thing you think 58 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:13,360 Speaker 2: about is a tornado that you see way far off 59 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 2: in the distance coming at you. And that's not always 60 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 2: the case when they happen here in the American South, 61 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 2: which you know, we'll get to the fact that that 62 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:24,920 Speaker 2: happens a lot more lately, there are a lot more trees, 63 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 2: dense forests, it's not these big, wide open planes. So 64 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 2: it's just not what you typically think of as tornado country, 65 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 2: even though they will rip through Georgia or Alabama or 66 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:38,360 Speaker 2: Tennessee just as well as they can anywhere else. 67 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,360 Speaker 1: Yes, and then we should also say that tornado alley 68 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 1: is a fairly recent term. It was coined in nineteen 69 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: fifty two by a pair of Air Force weathercasters, Major 70 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: Ernest J. Faubush great name agreed, and Captain Robert C. Miller. 71 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:57,320 Speaker 1: And they I saw that their method of predicting tornadoes 72 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: was like ninety five percent accurate or something insane likely whoa. 73 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: But so the coin tornado alley at about the same 74 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 1: time the records of tracking tornadoes begin, because in the 75 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:12,839 Speaker 1: United States, our records are tornado activity records only date 76 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:13,880 Speaker 1: back to the fifties. 77 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:18,719 Speaker 2: Yeah, the nineteen fifties. In fact, it was I guess 78 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:21,080 Speaker 2: just before we started the podcast in two thousand and 79 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:24,360 Speaker 2: seven that they and I guess I remember talking about 80 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:25,760 Speaker 2: this being sort of a new thing at the time. 81 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 2: Like you said, the Enhanced Fujiita Scale or the EF 82 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 2: scale for rating a tornadoes intensity or their damage intensity. 83 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 2: So that hasn't even been around that long. But you 84 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:41,840 Speaker 2: know how it generally worked was if you're going to 85 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 2: count tornadoes, you're literally gonna do that. You're gonna have 86 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 2: people calling in to the Weather Service. You're going to 87 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:50,800 Speaker 2: have just regular citizens. You're going to maybe people in 88 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:54,839 Speaker 2: the government or meteorologists weighing in, but people reporting tornadoes 89 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 2: to the NWS is how they keep track of how 90 00:04:58,000 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 2: many tornadoes they are. 91 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,839 Speaker 1: Yeah, you just know that the citizens that report tornadoes, 92 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: there's only ten of them, but they're probably responsible for 93 00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: like sixty percent of the tornado reports. 94 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, they're into it. 95 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:10,920 Speaker 1: I mean, good for them. So you don't just take 96 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: those ten people's word for it. Like you mark where 97 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:15,800 Speaker 1: they're saying they saw a tornado, and then you send 98 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:19,520 Speaker 1: out train meteorologists to go check afterwards, see what kind of. 99 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:20,480 Speaker 3: Structure was there. 100 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:25,440 Speaker 1: Exactly put their hand on a railroad track and they 101 00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: look at the destruction and based on the level of destruction, 102 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: they categorize it with that enhance Fujiita scale, and that 103 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:36,080 Speaker 1: ultimately what they're after is classifying it based on presumed 104 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 1: or estimated wind speeds hence the destructiveness of the whole thing, 105 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:43,600 Speaker 1: and then they count it. And that's how they track tornadoes. 106 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:46,360 Speaker 1: And because it's only in only days back to the fifties, 107 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:49,200 Speaker 1: and it's still kind of a cluegye way of tracking tornadoes. 108 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:54,320 Speaker 1: We're not very good at looking at long term trends 109 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:58,159 Speaker 1: in tornado activity. We're not there yet, so we're kind 110 00:05:58,160 --> 00:05:59,720 Speaker 1: of reading tea leaves as it were. 111 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:02,960 Speaker 2: All Right, uh now I want to go have some tea, 112 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 2: So let's take a break. Okay, and we'll be right back. 113 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 3: Okay, definitely should now dumb now large oils of Ryan. 114 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 1: Sk Okay, chuck the lake. We said, you can have 115 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:35,920 Speaker 1: a tornado outside of Tornado Alley. Sorry, everybody. They just 116 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:39,080 Speaker 1: happened there with more frequency. There's also plenty of less 117 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:44,720 Speaker 1: powerful tornadoes too that happened in Tornado Alley. But they're 118 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:47,600 Speaker 1: also they seem to be also popping up in the 119 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:53,039 Speaker 1: southern southeastern US with much greater frequency and much more 120 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:56,280 Speaker 1: destructiveness than it seems like there used to be. And 121 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,320 Speaker 1: that's actually a point of contention. Not everybody agrees with that, 122 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:02,280 Speaker 1: but they're there's a thought that there's a school of 123 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:06,640 Speaker 1: thought that Tornado Alley's migrating east toward. 124 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:12,119 Speaker 2: Yeah, they're calling this new new Tornado Alley Dixie Alley. 125 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 2: Some people are calling it that. Other people are saying like, no, 126 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 2: that's not even a thing. And again, these are the 127 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 2: ones that are going maybe through a forest or something, 128 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 2: or in the case of Atlanta, that one year like 129 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:25,080 Speaker 2: in the city of Atlanta, which is very scary and weird. 130 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 2: But there's not really a tornado season like you think 131 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 2: of in traditional tornado alley. They can they can pop 132 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 2: up whenever. I think it's more likely here in the 133 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:37,160 Speaker 2: South to have a tornado in late winter to early spring, 134 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 2: and in the northern plains it's usually summertime. But all 135 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 2: you need and these are what the meteorologists in tornado 136 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,560 Speaker 2: people try to hammer home. It's like, yeah, maybe there's 137 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 2: a tornado season, you know, quote unquote season, but like 138 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 2: it's an atmospheric condition and that can happen at any 139 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:57,320 Speaker 2: time in any place really as long as those conditions are. 140 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: Met right exactly. So like you said, so people are 141 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: just like, no, that's not actually a thing. It's not 142 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:06,040 Speaker 1: really moving. The reason that a lot of people say 143 00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:08,679 Speaker 1: it's moving is because the climate change. It just makes 144 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: sense right that as the earth warms, if you need warmer, 145 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:19,040 Speaker 1: humid air underneath colder air to create instability and wind cheer. Well, 146 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: then is the earth warms, you're going to have more 147 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:25,400 Speaker 1: warmer humid air, and so yes, if so facto, tornadoes 148 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:28,520 Speaker 1: are going to be breaking out much worse than they 149 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 1: were before, much greater frequency, and probably in places that 150 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 1: you know, you might as well say tornado alleys expanded. Right, 151 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 1: other people are like, not so fast, their buster, because yes, 152 00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:45,640 Speaker 1: there probably will be warmer, more warm, humid air, but 153 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: because the Earth's warming, that also means there will probably 154 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: be less cooler, drier air. Right, So you'll have one 155 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 1: of the ingredients, but you'll have less of the other ingredient, 156 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:00,080 Speaker 1: so you'll have less wind cheer, which means that. But 157 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: I don't know, it might be a wash. And at 158 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:04,839 Speaker 1: the very least, we can't really predict at this point 159 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:08,600 Speaker 1: how climate change is going to affect tornadoes. So sit down, 160 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:11,079 Speaker 1: I think, guess what the other scientists are saying. 161 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:14,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of hard to believe after all this 162 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 2: time that this is as far along as we are 163 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:20,640 Speaker 2: with tornadoes, And I don't know, it just seems like 164 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 2: something that you could almost predict it at a certain point. 165 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:27,719 Speaker 1: Yeah, because we've been tracking them for a while. This 166 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:31,920 Speaker 1: how stuff works article that we're basing this on mentions 167 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 1: what probably the very first report by a European of 168 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:39,760 Speaker 1: a tornado in what would become the United States was 169 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:43,160 Speaker 1: by Governor John Winthrop, one of the Puritans. If you 170 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:46,240 Speaker 1: remember our Puritan episode, Oh yeah, yeah, I'm back in 171 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:50,840 Speaker 1: sixteen forty three. He recorded a powerful wind that whipped 172 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 1: up dust, lifted his meeting house that's probably the big giveaway, 173 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:57,320 Speaker 1: and knock down a tree that fell on some poor 174 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: schmo who was killed by it. 175 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:01,120 Speaker 3: Geez. 176 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:05,240 Speaker 2: So he said in his logbook tornadoes not so pure 177 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:08,720 Speaker 2: exactly or very pure, depending on how you look at it. 178 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:10,800 Speaker 1: I guess yeah, now that you mentioned it, you probably 179 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:14,040 Speaker 1: saw them as God's wrath for sure. Do you have 180 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:14,600 Speaker 1: anything else? 181 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:19,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, we should mention the movie Twisters, because that is 182 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:21,920 Speaker 2: a I guess, I don't know what they call him 183 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 2: these days, but not a remake of the original Twister movie. 184 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:27,679 Speaker 2: But it has long been known that Emily, my wife, 185 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:32,160 Speaker 2: loves the movie Twister, the first one one of her 186 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:36,280 Speaker 2: guilty indulgences, because otherwise she just basically likes independent film 187 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:39,560 Speaker 2: and foreign film and Twister, and that's always sort of 188 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:41,840 Speaker 2: been the joke in the family. But she was very 189 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:45,640 Speaker 2: excited to watch Twisters. We rented it the other night 190 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:48,200 Speaker 2: here at the house. The three of us watched it, 191 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:52,160 Speaker 2: and Twisters gets three big old thumbs down from Oh 192 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:55,200 Speaker 2: that's a shame, just not very good unfortunately. 193 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:56,240 Speaker 3: Well, it's a. 194 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:58,840 Speaker 1: Tough act to follow. I mean the first first one 195 00:10:59,080 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 1: was pretty great. 196 00:11:00,559 --> 00:11:03,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the cast alone, Philip Seymour Hoffman and 197 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:07,480 Speaker 2: Bill Paxton and Helen Han it was great. Carry ol wise, 198 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:10,679 Speaker 2: really just a top notch movie and holds up. So 199 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:16,480 Speaker 2: I say, don't waste your time with Twisters. Okay, And 200 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 2: I hope no one that made that movie or was 201 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:21,400 Speaker 2: in that movie listens to the show because they're all great. Otherwise, 202 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:22,319 Speaker 2: good for. 203 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:25,800 Speaker 1: You, man. Chuck was very nice at the end there, 204 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:27,840 Speaker 1: So of course that means short stuff is out. 205 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:34,080 Speaker 2: Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For 206 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:38,360 Speaker 2: more podcasts my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 207 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:40,319 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.